House of Heat
by Petra Todd
Summary: Rey and Kylo Ren are haunted by their meeting on Starkiller Base. Tormented by dreams and driven to find relief in a dark place, their paths will cross again with fateful consequences. An Alpha/Omega story.
1. Chapter 1

PROLOGUE

She'd let it go too long this time. Rey knew from the moment they entered the airspace of Galactic City. For once, she didn't resent relinquishing control to the automatic navigation; punching in the destination, she curled into the chair, her arms locked around her knees.

Sinking into the chair with her eyes fluttered shut, Rey inhaled slowly through her nose, desperately trying to find a cool tranquil center inside her. The peace of meditation eluded her though, with the ragged cadence of her own breathing alarming her.

A trickle sweat ran down her neck and Rey rubbed at it irritably. The hard touch of her hand against her flushed skin felt so good, but it wasn't enough. The blazing sun of Jakku had never left her so simmering and restless as the heat now racing through her body.

"Rey? Are you going to make it? It's not too late to go back. If you've changed your mind…" Jess's voice called from the rear of the small ship. The black-haired pilot lay in her bunk, pale and weary beneath the thin blanket. Rey heard the tremor in her friend's voice, and the distress of another pulled her from her daze.

Jess had more time left than Rey did, but not that much. She'd seen Jess grinning and relaxed after skirmishing with First Order TIE fighters. She was the youngest and the toughest member of Blue squadron, without a doubt. But the Resistance pilot had been shaking by the time she finished her shift in the cockpit, on their way to Coruscant.

They had to make it. After coming all this way, making all their plans…this was supposed to be the solution to her problem. Supposed to make the hunger go away, make the dreams stop. Get him _out_.

"Yes," Rey replied, her eyes opening. "It is too late. We're not going back."

She unfolded her legs and reached for the panel. Shaking off the haze of heat, she swallowed and gripped the lever.

"I can't go back."

* * *

Chapter I

The dreams began after they returned to D'Qar.

She had thought that finding the last Jedi on Ahch-To would be the end of her difficulties, but as it turned out, the peaceful sage she'd been seeking didn't exist. In his place, she found a tired old Alpha with a puckish sense of humor that surfaced at the oddest times.

She discovered Luke Skywalker standing atop a cliff, peering at her inscrutably. The lightsaber extended in her hand was acknowledged only with a silent shake of his head. Puzzled, Rey fumbled out an explanation of how she'd found it in a trunk at Maz Kanata's place.

Luke's grim eyes regarded the weapon before rising to meet hers. "I'd rather have the hand back. Did you find that?"

"What?"

A wry smile slid over his lips, and Rey saw light come into his blue eyes.

"Never mind. I've grown used to this one. You hold onto that 'saber."

"But it's yours," she frowned. Her arm fell to her side. "My name is Rey. I came to bring you home. They need you. General Organa- the Resistance- a lot's happened. I'm not sure where to start."

"The beginning is usually a good place," the Jedi said. He turned to gaze out at the ocean, and the lines of his face softened. "We're going to sit down in my hut and have some tea. You can tell me about yourself, Rey. And then you'll tell me about the last days of my old friend, Han."

A lump grew in her throat. "I'll try."

Luke nodded. "And then. Then we can talk about going home."

* * *

"You're a real pain in the ass, you know that?" General Organa's words welcomed them as they stepped off the ramp of the Millenium Falcon, into the Resistance base.

Luke grinned and wrapped his sister in a tight embrace. "I missed you too, Leia."

When the general pulled back, her eyes were wet. "Don't go soft just yet. Rey needs a teacher."

Standing aside with Chewbacca, Rey jumped a little to hear herself brought into the moment.

Luke glanced her way and nodded. "We've already begun. You do still have a way of collecting extraordinary people."

"Keeps things lively. Doesn't she need to make her own lightsaber?" Leia's eyebrows rose.

"Eventually. But I don't need this one anymore. And Rey can handle it."

Rey shifted uncomfortably, and Chewie patted her shoulder, growling with approval. Her lessons aboard the ship on their way back to D'Qar had been going well, with Rey showing increased control in her use of the Force. For the most part anyway.

 _That damned remote._ Much to the Jedi's delight, Chewie dug up an old training remote that Luke had used with Obi-Wan Kenobi decades ago. Luke tinkered with it, repairing the emitter, while reminiscing about his old master "Ben" as he called him. ("He'd have liked you," Luke told her. When she asked why, he just shrugged and resumed wearing that annoyingly calm smile.) As naturally as handling the lightsaber had come to her on Starkiller when she faced Kylo Ren, stopping the blasts of the training remote with a lightsaber was another matter. The remote stung her so many times, she tried to hide the thing by stuffing it into the ship's garbage chute as soon as Luke went to sleep. In the morning, it was back, hovering outside her bunk as Skywalker huddled in his robes nearby, drinking a cup of tea.

"We've kept you from your wife too long. Her latest message was...quite insistent, I'm told. She misses you," Leia said to Chewie. "Thank you for staying by his side all these years." She didn't have to say who the _he_ was in this instance. Her sorrow for her lost husband was written in her eyes.

" _When Rey needs a co-pilot, I'll be there,"_ Chewie replied in Shyriiwook. Leia's forehead wrinkled as she tried to understand. His growls slowed. _"I'm sorry about the boy. When he was young, I held him up…I am sorry."_

"Ahhh," Leia's eyes darted to Rey. "Did you catch any of that?"

"If we need him for the Millenium Falcon, he'll come back." Rey slid an arm around Chewbacca and squeezed. She couldn't think of a way to convey the rest of Chewie's message about the general's son. _The boy who had once been her son_ , Rey amended to herself. _But he's gone now. I think- for a moment there when Han touched him, I saw Ben Solo, felt something shake in the Force, something lift- but that's over._

She felt a dull ache settle in her chest, and a flash of guilt, the same one that had plagued her since Starkiller Base.

Leia didn't appear to notice anything was amiss. She shook the Wookiee's hand gratefully as he departed to find his shuttle home, and turned to catch her brother up on the Resistance's current operation.

Luke and Leia strolled into the headquarters in sync, and trailing behind them, Rey saw the resemblance in the Alpha Skywalker twins. Their physical similarity wasn't strong but the strength with which they carried themselves, the sureness and the set of their shoulders marked them as kin. She saw that same powerful carriage in Kylo Ren when he confronted her and Finn in the forest, the same grace when he slashed with his lightsaber. But while the twins' strength was restrained, there was no leash on Kylo Ren's power. He poured fury into his talent, and the aggression showed with every swing. She was still in awe at how he'd fought even after a bowcaster shot that should've killed him, and _would_ have killed almost any other human.

Their duel in the snow haunted in her ways she couldn't explain to Luke when she recounted the last few months of her life, back on Ahch-To.

In ways she didn't want to explain, if she were being entirely honest with herself.

When the dreams began soon after her return to D'Qar, long nights filled with dark eyes and a potent Alpha scent, Rey wasn't even surprised.

* * *

The dreams always started in the same place:

 _A grey sky sunset, on the high dune just beyond Rey's AT-AT on Jakku, the place she would wander to when she was feeling the loneliest and wanted to remind herself of how large and full of possibility the galaxy was. Where she could see for miles if anyone was coming for her._

" _The high ground, that's smart. Safer." From behind, his arms slide around her middle and his scent is suddenly everywhere. The indefinable lush aroma that made her mouth water and her thighs squeeze together._

" _Not safe from you," Rey replies, covering his pale hands with her own. His lips nuzzle the nape of her neck, and she shivers, though the day's heat hasn't faded yet._

" _Were you waiting for me?" His grip strengthens and she feels breathless, hauled against the warmth and hardness of his body._

" _No, I wasn't." Her mouth curves upward with the lie. "I was looking at the stars."_

 _His large hands spin her around until her nose bumps against his chest. She laughs and his fingers capture her chin, forcing her to look up and face him, face whose arms she stands in._

 _Kylo Ren traces her full bottom lip with his thumb, while his other arm seals her tight to him once more._

" _I could show you the stars." His brown eyes follow the path of his finger against her lips. "I could show you everything you ever wanted to know."_

" _I'd rather figure it out for myself," Rey says, and realizes the sun has gone down, leaving them in starless night. Her arms are empty and cold, and she falls to her knees, panicked and grasping handfuls of cooling sand._

" _Wait! I didn't mean-"_

" _Shhhh. You're not alone." He's there again, kneeling; his arms wrap around Rey and swing her around to lay her before him. She feels fabric beneath her back, her palms, her bare thighs, and it's then she realizes her clothes have disappeared in the darkness. She recognizes the rich black fabric beneath her body and sliding between her fingers now- it's his outer robe._

 _He doesn't need it, or anything else as he crawls between her thighs as nude as she is. The kiss begins at her throat, with his black hair tickling the sensitive skin of her cheek. Her laughs turn to moans as the kiss flows down to her collarbone, his lips dotting the path. By the time his teeth lock around her nipples, each thoroughly taken in turn, Rey's nails have dug into his shoulders, marking him with crescent moons. His eyes never leave hers as his fingers explore between her legs, spreading her wetness as the long kiss lingers lower, past her navel._

 _When Kylo's kiss finds her open and ready for him, juices flowing, Rey is past shame. Her knees fall apart and she demands with her fists in his hair, her hips rising to meet his chin, his mouth. With every tug, his tongue presses harder, lapping up the taste of her, letting her soak him until he's drowning in her._

" _Please," she breaks. "I need more. It's not enough."_

 _He rises over her, his broad shoulders heaving, and she shivers. She's too hot, she can't stand it. She drags Kylo down to her, sliding her hand between their bodies to grasp him. "I need you."_

" _You need my cock," he murmurs, rutting his thickness against her. "My Omega."_

" _Yes," Rey moans, burning with it. "Now." She squirms against him, nudging his cock against her entrance. "Do it."_

" _Tell me," he demands; but the softness in his eyes makes it almost a plea. "My Omega."_

" _Omega, yes," Rey says, wrapping her arms around his neck and kissing him between every word. "I'm your Omega. I'm yours."_

 _Triumph covers his face, and the sensation of being overwhelmingly filled rushes over Rey as he thrusts into her._

 _Yours…._

Rey awoke with a hot flood of shame; there was no slow call to awareness but an instant understanding of how bad – or how good, rather- the dream had been this time.

Her body ached, her nipples throbbed, and her panties were soaked through to her sleeping pants. She laid in bed for a half hour, waiting for the fire in her core to die down before she gave up.

Slipping under her covers, her hands dipped into her underwear to find her clit tender and ready. Rey worked her wrists into exhaustion with three orgasms, but in the end, she was never able to come without remembering brown eyes, or the scent of a particular Alpha.

Weeks of frenzied dreams and the madness hadn't ended. Instead of fading with time, the scent only grew stronger and her nights more restless.

 _How many more nights can I take?_ Rey thought.

In the morning, she resolved to find a way to take control of the situation before the wildness of heat took it from her.

* * *

Halfway across the galaxy, Kylo Ren lay awake on his hard mattress, having long given up on sleep for the cycle. He was always restless this part of the year; his time was coming, only a few weeks remained by his estimate, but he usually had a better handle on it. He might be Alpha but he was a Knight of Ren, he had more discipline than that, despite what some thought. Working on completing his training with Snoke, he should be getting better, not more out of control.

Something had changed, and he had a suspicion of what it was.

Kylo idly traced the rough line slashing diagonally down his face; a memento of a girl he'd underestimated. She was formidable and in his arrogance, he'd been defeated. He wouldn't make that mistake next time. He'd healed from the devastating bowcaster blast, and was in the best shape of his life.

When he hunted down the rebels and tore apart the Resistance, he'd start with her.

A vision of hazel eyes gazing up at him with wonder and need flew into his mind. His heart beat faster, and his mind filled with the half-remembered image of a nude woman wrapped in his black robe. He couldn't see her face, but he smelled her scent, like salt, wind and sand, and a hint of something fresh and green. Kylo Ren sat up in bed and swore.

He would hunt the scavenger down.

He would do whatever it took to make the damned dreams stop.


	2. Chapter 2

**_Thank you to everyone for your reviews! Special thanks to SoYeahSo for helping with this story with the beta reading/feedback!_**

 ** _In chapter 2, we have a gathering, a prediction, and Rey and Kylo making some preparations._**

* * *

The Knights of Ren stood in the chamber of their Supreme Leader, awaiting his judgment.

Kylo Ren contemplated his companions as they filed in one by one to join him in the dimly lit room. Each knight was unique and strengthened the order in their own way, but each one was powerful and every one of them an alpha.

Sazina Ren entered first, her long and loose black robe covering an incredible assortment of blasting weapons. She was an expert with all of them, he knew.

The Teevan knight Chrywumppa Ren never spoke. His silver face betrayed nothing. He knelt in the chamber, silently meditating, the swell of dark power around him suffocating like a fog.

They were joined soon after by cunning Keren, who barely reached Kylo's shoulders and disguised her freckled face with a mask much like his own.

Dirrivon Ren, fresh from a long run on the Outer Rim, crackled with unsteady energy. His hulking frame barely fit through the portal to the chamber.

Ejoimo Ren hurried into the room after him, scanning the area. Their tiny black eyes caught every flash of movement, Kylo knew from experience. Their left hand never left the lightsaber at their hip.

Last to arrive was the arrogant Arkanian knight Ferassmo, who wielded a double-sided lightsaber. He was known for taking special pleasure in challenging alpha warriors and killing them in front of their mates.

The Seven had not been reunited in several years. With the rise of the First Order, the Supreme Leader's knights were scattered across the galaxy, carrying out his will and serving as his eyes. But the Knights had always thrived on testing each other's boundaries, skills and their growing use of the Force. Coming together, Kylo wondered how many duels would be fought between them before they separated again.

After weeks of restlessness and lost sleep, he was looking forward to it. The more he resolved to fight them off, the worse the dreams of the scavenger overtook him. The fury of his coming rut was pushing up under his skin; his skin crawled with it, his hands curled into fists waiting to pummel his enemy into submission. The urge to hunt and conquer and break was rolling over him with the viciousness it did every spring cycle. And now, he had a chamber full of willing opponents. Under his mask, Kylo grinned with anticipation.

The only thing he was missing was an omega to celebrate with after his victories. Someone to cry out his name while he pushed her to her hands and knees, and gave her his-

The door slid open, and Kylo yanked himself from his pleasurable reverie, drawing all his being and focus into the present moment.

The Knights of Ren dropped to their knees as one.

Supreme Leader Snoke glided into the chamber, his grace at odds with his gnarled form. Their leader's icy blue eyes gleamed, taking in the semi-circle of knights before him.

"Rise, my alphas of Ren. You have done very well."

Kylo smiled under his mask, and sensed barely concealed feelings of joy at the compliment through the Force around him. From Dirrivon and Keren, he suspected. They were still capable of feeling happiness, last he had seen them. The sense of smug satisfaction was no doubt coming from Ferassmo.

"The training is complete. You are Seven. You are one. Alpha without omega. _You_ are complete." Snoke's eyes fell to Kylo, and he felt a surge of gratefulness to his master. He had won forgiveness for his failure on Starkiller Base. And with Snoke, there was no shame in being what he was, in his power and his strength as alpha.

"The Jedi has returned. I have felt his presence." Snoke's eyes narrowed. "Your _uncle."_

"Not my family anymore, I swear it," Kylo said.

"Skywalker…he has returned to the rebels with the scavenger." The leader's scarred mouth twisted in a way that could almost be called a smile.

Kylo's heart skipped a beat. _Rey._ He'd heard her name echoing around the chambers of her mind when he'd probed her for the map.

"With Rey," Snoke added, his face expressionless.

Kylo shivered.

Sazina Ren stepped forward, pushing her hood back. "Supreme Leader, we must act before the people rally around the Jedi. I suggest a tactical and immediate strike on the location, if you can provide it."

"D'Qar, naturally. He's gone to the base. But it is… not time yet."

"Supreme Leader, Sazina is correct- they'll rally around Luke Skywalker. The Republic and the Resistance worship him, he's their greatest hero. If he's come back, that's all they'll need-"

Snoke cut him off with a slow growl hardly above a whisper. Beneath his helmet, Kylo felt the hair on his neck stand on end. "Do not question me, Kylo Ren. Patience is the gift I cannot give you, it seems. But you will learn it." He lifted a finger and flicked it toward the other knights. "Leave us. But you," he said, turning his finger to Kylo. "You remain."

Dread filled him and he knelt before his master.

The doors slid shut and Kylo was alone with the Supreme Leader. He braced himself for the ripples of pain that would no doubt be flowing through his mind in seconds.

Instead of pain though, he felt a feather-light touch on his shoulder. Looking up, he saw Snoke gazing down at him.

"I have seen things. The Dark Side and the Light uniting, and you will be made stronger for it. A woman. D'Qar will fall. And you will become more like your grandfather, as you desire. A sacrifice must be made." Snoke's hand fell away from his shoulder. "You will leave for Coruscant in a week."

Kylo's head swam with the information. _Grandfather…D'Qar…a woman…_

"Coruscant? My lord, I had been considering-"

"Yes, Coruscant is where you go every year at this time. Fortuitous, isn't it?" Snoke said serenely. "Carry on with your plans. You will be stronger for your time away. And when you return, then we will begin."

Kylo Ren watched Snoke disappear through the portal, still trying to absorb the strange meeting.

 _The Knights. Coruscant. D'Qar._

D'Qar will fall.

And his mother with it, no doubt. Leia Organa would never leave the base while any living person was still there, needing her.

His stomach tightened, and he swallowed, willing away the odd pangs in his gut.

He returned to his own sparse room, ignoring his fellow knights in the corridors and pulling open the datapad before he even removed his mask.

A moment's research brought him the names of the establishments on Coruscant providing the lists of services he needed. He made it a point to never return to the same location two years in a row; he didn't want to take the chance of running into the same person, be it staff or client. Crossing off the houses he'd been to before, he was left with three good places on levels that didn't seem too unclean.

Browsing options providing by the businesses, Kylo felt his restlessness return. _Restraints, safe words, scenting._ He heard his breath turn ragged beneath the mask.

Annoyed, he stripped out of his mask and clothing, and set his lightsaber aside carefully, curbing his impatience. It wasn't until he was down to his black briefs that he finally felt comfortable. Running a hand though his hair, he found it damp and rough. Touching his throat, he felt heat rising from it. He didn't bother to find a medical droid. This was standard for him in his pre-rut time. His temperature always rose when he was close, his entire form vibrating with unspent energy. Knowing the fact didn't make it any less irritating. Or make him any less hard with only a single touch, he thought, his fingertips grazing his cock.

Kylo highlighted one Galactic City house and sent them a message, making a priority appointment for the following week with requests to follow. He tossed the datapad aside.

Jumping up, he threw himself into an exhausting routine of Vaapad forms, hoping to drain some of his aggression and hunger with the exercise.

He contorted his body and stretched every muscle until he breathed heavily and sweat poured from him. Kylo worked himself until weariness emptied his mind and he laid down in his bed, certain he'd found peace at last.

But when he surrendered to sleep, the dreams came and he was in her arms again.

* * *

The alarm blared and Rey stumbled from her bed, her limbs still heavy with sleep. She glared at the chrono displaying the time on the wall, unwilling to believe it had already been three hours since she crawled under the covers for a "quick nap."

The small com link on her bedside table beeped insistently at her until she clicked it on and barked a greeting.

"REY. You're late. You're supposed to see medical. Then get over here. I've got the info." She recognized Jess's bright chatter over the spotty com link connection. "Also more of that brandy because Snap owes me one and we could use a good drink."

"Chrono's broken," Rey grumbled as she pulled on her boots. "Why don't you just knock on my door like a normal person, Jess?"

"Because people don't love it when omegas near heat are wandering the halls," Jess said as though it was obvious. And Rey supposed it should have been obvious. It would be, to most people who had grown up in crowded cities and towns, or most anywhere that wasn't a remote outpost. Even though she'd lived among other people for a few months now, some things still baffled and surprised her. "I mean I'm alright, it's safe here on base and I'm still in control but I think my scent is getting strong because even betas are starting to run to open doors for me. I hate that bantha fodder."

Rey laughed and grabbed her vest, zipping it over her sleep-wrinkled shirt. "I'll be there soon." She hesitated, and then grabbed her staff. Jess might swear they were safe, but Rey remembered well the heat-hunters of Jakku who acquired omegas for the Hutts to enslave. She'd had too many close calls with them before she learned how to fight, and she hadn't survived so long on her own by counting on the goodness of others.

 _Well maybe there are a few exceptions_ , she thought; Finn and Chewie and Han's faces flashed through her mind. Her grip on her staff tightened, and she exited her door, locking it behind her. Most people were not like the friends she had cautiously acquired in the last few months. It was as exciting to her as discovering an untouched wreckage, waiting for her to search out the good bits worth preserving. She still marveled at the novelty of having a friend like Jess, where they could simply learn each other, and enjoy each other's company without a particular purpose. Jess and Poe were also the first human omegas she had ever known, and seeing them treated as equals and heroes in the Resistance was reassuring.

On Jakku, she knew how she was seen by the others: that skinny young girl who lived in the shell of the Empire's leavings. They were suspicious of her accent and of her refusal to accept any alphas that passed through Niima Outpost. She was barely an omega to them; not rounded and receptive in shape, but toned and narrow. Rey honed herself to sharpness, hoping to keep them all at bay until her family returned. The people of Niima didn't question when she disappeared for days at a time, glad to be rid of her when her extremely rare heats came.

To be wanted simply for her friendship was not something she ever dared hope for, on those nights when she looked up at the stars and dreamed.

She was very much reminded of her omega status when she took up living on D'Qar though. The healthy rations packed with vitamins added a few much-needed layers of fat to Rey's body, rounding her hips and thighs and adding a touch of a curve to her belly. Her muscles were as hard as ever, with her agility growing every day under the Jedi exercises led by Master Luke. But for the first time in her life, Rey had more than enough food, and she was loving it. The nutrients restored the natural balance of her body, and that was why after less than three months at the Resistance base, Rey knew she was going into full heat.

"Well, damn."

The physician showed her the read-out on the display again, charting out the alarming spike of Rey's hormones.

"You must've suspected, since you're here." The woman- her identification read Doctor Tanja- looked at her candidly.

"Yes, I haven't felt well for weeks." Rey sighed. "It's been so long since I had one. "

"How long?" The physician scratched her grey head. "That can be a factor."

Rey's forehead furrowed in thought. She thought back- she'd last had a heat just before she found the wreck of that gorgeous speeder fifteen miles outside Niima, and she'd gotten seven portions for the lot, a fantastic take. She did the calculation in her head. "Two and a half years?"

The physician's eyes bugged out. "Oh dear. Oh honey, you're not going to have a good time of this."

Rey clutched her staff. "It's not that bad, right? You can give me something to slow it, to make it easier?"

Doctor Tanja shook her head. "I can get you set up with birth control- I recommend a double set for omegas, actually, given your extreme fertility. Some sedatives if you want to soothe the anxiety. But I can't undo the complete hormonal change happening in your system for the sake of convenience. It's dangerous. If you wanted to look at a permanent alteration, such as those who decide to no longer express omega traits," the physician said delicately, "We could eventually consider a procedure-"

"No, no, not that," Rey stuttered. "I want to be omega, I am omega." She felt herself blushing. "I'm not sure if I'm prepared this time around."

"Well, get prepared," the woman replied bluntly. "Given your hormone levels, I'd say you have a week, maybe less, before things get very uncomfortable for you."

"I've been talking with a friend about doing something. To take care of a heat, if this was really it," Rey admitted.

"Oh good," Doctor Tanja replied. "Double reproduction-control implant set?"

Rey looked up sheepishly and then grinned. "Yes please."

* * *

"Well, what do you think?" Jess sipped her brandy. "I've been to that first one. The rooms are really nice, but the couple who run it are kind of pushy. And I like to take my time."

Rey settled onto the cushion beside her friend, and grabbed her glass. "So all these places- they all offer the same…services?"

Jess smiled. "More or less. They're all heat houses. It's pretty straightforward."

"Not to me!" Rey fiddled with her topmost bun, adjusting the tie. "How does it work exactly?"

"Well, everyone knows Coruscant has the largest amount of heat houses." She waved at the long list of locations given for the planet. "So if people don't want to go it alone during their rut or heat time, they go to a heat house. They're very safe, everyone takes the security of the omegas very seriously."

"What about the security of the alphas?" Rey asked.

Jess shrugged. She grabbed a hair tie and pulled back her long black hair. With her early-heat time setting in, her temperature was rising too, Rey noticed sympathetically. "Anyway, you're totally in control. Generally there's a scenting room, where they let people be introduced to each other, so you can find an alpha that's to your liking." She took another sip of her brandy. "Usually people are pretty far along in their heats by the time they get there, they're not too picky. You just need a strong body that smells good with a thick knot that'll get you through the next few days." She glanced at her friend. "Or the next week in your case. Honestly, Rey, two and a half years? This heat is going to last forever."

She groaned. "I know. At least I got this taken care of," she added, showing the freshly healed incision on her arm.

"Oh did you get the double repro-control set?" Jess asked.

"I did."

"I have it too. Good decision. You know the best thing about the heat houses though? You don't have to worry about contacting the alphas afterward or whether they'll contact you. No names exchanged, no feelings once the hormones die down. No strings attached, just glorious free fucking with an alpha who has no claim on you. And then you fly away and everything's back to normal," Jess said cheerfully.

 _No claim on me,_ Rey thought. _No claim._

The thought of it lifted a weight from her chest she hadn't realized was there.

She flipped through the photos on the display provided by the heat houses, showing the bedrooms and suites on offer. She closed her eyes and saw herself face-down on the last bed she glimpsed, her limbs spread out on the oversized black-sheeted mattress. She imagined turning her face sideways, her fingers curling into the sheet, and her back arching as the alpha's hands stroked her sides and cupped her ass. Rey licked her lips and envisioned lifting her hips and rocking herself back against her alpha's groin, begging without words for him to take her. In her fantasy, she felt the tip of him grazing her wet folds in a long slow tease before she turned her head to look at her alpha and demand his cock inside her.

In her waking dream, the dark eyes of Kylo Ren met her own.

Rey jumped.

"You okay?" Jess's eyebrows rose. "I get spacy when I'm near heat too. I'm not scheduled for any missions for the next few weeks."

"Yeah," Rey trailed off. "Jess?"

"Hmm?"

"I want to schedule an appointment with a house. Any one. You pick, I don't care." Rey nodded grimly. "I just need this to stop."


	3. Coruscant

"Is that all you've got? Maybe the girl took more than just a layer of skin off your face." Sazina Ren scorned as she sank into a crouch. Her reddish-golden arms lifted in a gesture of invitation. "Juyo-based attacks _again?_ Honestly, Kylo."

Leaning against the wall, with his chest heaving and a trickle of blood running from his nose, Kylo knew he was dangerously close to losing his first duel among the Ren since he had joined their number. He was scattered, irritable and Sazina's barbs were striking too well. He had to regroup. Finding the core within and focusing on slowing his breathing, he lifted his head and spoke.

"My apologies, Sazina. I nodded off for a moment. Were you doing something?" He smiled pleasantly and brushed his hair away from his eyes. "You know how I drift off when I'm bored." The energy in the room shifted, and the lines of power between them clashed as each combatant pushed, switching from a physical duel to a battle of the Force.

From the sidelines, Ejoimo and Keren watched with gleaming eyes. Dirrivon had already retired for the day to tend to a shattered collarbone, thanks to one of Keren's maneuvers. The reunion of the Seven was going as well as expected, with dozens of fights occupying the last week. Snoke had left them to their amusements, vanishing into his chambers. The Stormtroopers on the starship were cutting a wide circle around them after a man on security detail had entered the room during Chrywumppa and Ferassmo's match three days ago, and been hit. It would've been a mild injury but in his annoyance over the interruption, Ferassmo had taken the trooper's head.

Kylo had won half a dozen duels in the past week, taking down every one of his companions, but Sazina challenged him again the day before he was due to leave for Coruscant. He insisted on no weapons for their last fight; he had no desire to deal with the repercussions of killing a Ren on the eve of his rut.

Knowing that he was headed for shore leave didn't take the edge off at all; nothing killed the primal energy running through his veins. Every alpha instinct in his body was switched on, hunting and hurting and _feeling_. The very air tasted crisper, and his connection to the Force grew stronger, with every life on the ship bleeding together until he was overwhelmed and sickened with the potency of it. It was too much.

He remembered being overtaken with the feeling when he was a boy and trying to tell his father about it. But Han was a beta, and baffled by "that stuff" as he used to call it. _"I'm sorry, kiddo. Your mom probably would know."_

His stomach lurched as Sazina stabbed at him with pure power; her presence left in his mind the acrid taste of smoke and old blood. Rippling pains rolled through his body and he stifled the urge to vomit. The Force-choke wrapped around his stomach, gripping him with deadly strength. The other knight smiled, a shine of vicious delight reaching her copper-brown eyes. She thrust her hand out and the flow of power increased.

Kylo closed his eyes and crossed his arms over his abdomen. The visual helped him shut out the mental knife Sazina was driving into his belly. The agony abated and his fractured thoughts resumed cohesiveness. A thought occurred to him- she was too focused on one area. She often was, it was a weakness of Sazina's. She thought it would win her the battle, but her laser-like intensity blinded her to other things.

Kylo allowed himself to buckle to his knees, gripping his stomach. A groan spilled from his lips as he projected feelings of complete defeat and draining life through the Force. Sazina stepped closer, ready to claim victory with a last strike of power. Kylo's head fell to the ground, his forehead smacking the hard surface as his legs curled up into his stomach. Sazina towered over him, her face aglow with triumph.

Her hand rose, and lightning gathered in her palm. Her fingers braced to deliver the blow. Focused on her victory, she didn't see Kylo's hands dart out and swiftly grab her ankles until it was too late.

"Oh you -" The lightning in her hand sparked and fizzled, and Sazina staggered back as he yanked hard. As she stumbled and flexed to regain her balance, Kylo leapt to his feet- and neatly punched her in the nose. The fist landed with a heavy crunch.

As she recoiled, he threw himself at her, using the full effect of his height and weight on the slimmer knight. She landed on her back and before she caught her breath, found Kylo Ren sitting on her chest, his legs bracing her arms against her sides and his hands locked around her throat.

Peering down at her, his dark eyes blazing with the power of the Force, Sazina knew she'd lost.

"Do you yield?"

"Dirty trick," Sazina spat. "Your Jedi uncle teach you that one?"

"Do. You. _Yield,_ " Kylo demanded, his fingers tightening.

"Yes," she conceded through clenched teeth. "I yield."

Kylo rolled off Sazina and stood. He wiped the trickle of blood away from his nose and bowed to his opponent.

Watching with approval, Ejoimo and Keren applauded their companions and stood to take their places for the next match.

Kylo picked his helmet off the floor and donned it. He strode from the room without acknowledging the knights further. It was meaningless anyhow; all of it was. He still seethed with restlessness. If anything, it was worse now.

No, it hadn't been his uncle who taught him how to use low tricks or deliver a punch.

 _Keep your fists up and protect your eyes, Ben. And your nose. Don't let 'em get your nose. Your eyes'll water like a bastard._

He felt a stab of shame as the memory of the gravelly voice flickered into his mind before he could stop it. Clamping down on the sensation, he used long-practiced strategies to control it. He saw himself depositing the thought in the nearest garbage chute. Shred it and throw it away, he reminded himself.

As he turned the corner to the hall that led to his room, his stomach rumbled. His evening meal should be sitting out for him already as he'd requested; there'd be hell to pay if his extra portions of protein weren't waiting for him. He needed to stock himself up, get ready for the punishing physical process of rut. What he'd just gone through against a Knight of Ren was nothing compared to what his muscles would go through in the next few days of rut.

His entire mind and body would be dedicated to satisfying his innate need to mate. No matter how exhausted, the urge to copulate would return. When the omega begged, the alpha couldn't refuse; it wasn't in their nature.

Kylo entered his chamber and removed his helmet. The scent of hot, spiced meat greeted his nose. Setting aside the helmet on his bed, his stomach rumbled again and he dove into the food. He needed to listen to his body, he knew. And after the mess of the last few months, the tangled dreams and the battles that still raged, he wanted nothing more than to disappear into an omega for a week.

In the morning, he transferred to another starship headed for the Core and spent two days there, pacing and snapping at anyone who dared approach him or his quarters. When the ship neared Coruscant, Kylo prepped a one-man shuttle and departed hastily with his lone traveling bag filled with a change of clothes. He wouldn't be arriving on the planet as a knight; Kylo Ren would cease to be for the next seven days.

He didn't allow himself to think about why that felt like such a relief.

* * *

If her body wasn't on fire and sucking away her enjoyment of the view, she might've said it was the most incredible place she'd ever seen.

The sun was setting and Coruscant's three moons rising as their shuttle landed in Galactic City. The planet was lit with a glow of colors from the skytowers that stretched into the atmosphere. The hum of the sprawling city was deafening, and the millions of minds existing so closely together created such a wall of energy, Rey staggered as she stepped from their small transport. She closed her eyes for a moment, and drew on the strength of the Force to center her and close out everything else.

Their hellish journey from D'Qar finally over, Jess and Rey gratefully transferred to the airspeeder that would convey them to the entertainment district. The docking station Jess had chosen had an Omega Safe Zone, free from the presence of unwanted alphas. The beta attendant eyed the women sympathetically as they wearily completed the transfer.

"Here's your ride, this one coming up. It's a beauty, great on the spin." She smiled at Jess, and handed Rey the document pad.

"I don't think I can drive this," Rey admitted, staring wide-eyed at the scarlet vehicle that pulled up in front of them. The airspeeder rumbled as the engine idled. In the back of her mind, the part not squirming with physical discomfort, she wondered what sort of compressor they were using.

"You don't have to," Jess laughed, throwing their bags into the storage compartment. "I started out with a 'speeder like this when I was fourteen. Just hold on, we're almost there." A pair of racing airspeeders flew overhead, their engines blaring. Rey winced as a wave of fumes filled her nose with a chemical stench.

Jess inhaled happily. "I missed the city. Been too long since I visited. Alright, I'm losing steam here. Let's move." She slid into the driver's seat, and Rey awkwardly climbed over her to the passenger seat.

"How far down do we have to go?" Rey asked, looking over the edge of the vehicle. "How many levels _are_ there?"

"Not sure. A few thousand, maybe?" Jess grabbed hold of the flywheel and fiddled anxiously with the dial to the right. "But we're headed for the underworld. All the heat houses are there. Down hundreds of levels from here so we need to get moving. Sorry, I'm getting impatient. I can be a real jerk when I'm close to heat." She turned her flushed face to Rey. "How about you?"

Rey noted the redness of her friend's cheeks and realized how well Jess must be disguising her symptoms in order to stay strong. She felt a pang of fondness; Jess had been a rock for her in the last month especially, she'd have to find a way to make it up to her when this was over.

Jess pulled away from the dock, and the airspeeder rose slightly before dipping down a level and sliding into the middle airlane. The lights around them blurred and the wind picked up. Rey sank into her seat and relaxed as the breeze cooled the sweat on her brow.

"I don't know what I'm like," Rey admitted. She paused. "I've never spent a heat with anyone. So no one has told me…anything about how I am."

" _Kriff!_ Rey!" Jess looked at her incredulously. "I wouldn't have pushed this for your first time with an alpha if I'd known that. I just assumed-"

"No it's fine," Rey interrupted. She gazed out at the city and smiled. As the vehicle descended, the moonlight in the sky disappeared and they were surrounded by only the multicolored glow of the signs of Coruscant. The buildings of the city, the pinks, blues and greens, all melded together as they sank farther from the light. No natural illumination survived so low; the structures of the city choked it from every corner.

"It's not important. It never was, to me. I managed on my own, on Jakku. It was hard but I did it."

"Can I ask what changed?"

A dozen levels flew by, and all natural light was gone by the time Rey answered.

"I did."

* * *

Coruscant was as filthy as ever, he saw. The grime of the city-planet and its denizens, constantly on the prowl to take credit off you, annoyed him on every visit. But the place had its purpose, he could admit that.

Kylo dropped the shuttle off at a First Order office, and ignored their offer of a vehicle. He didn't want to be seen in one of theirs; the formality and markings of their transports was apparent to anyone with eyes, even when they attempted to go undercover. He did accept the use of their station house to change his clothes and clean up.

In the private room, he packed his black garments and his helmet into his travel bag on the bed. Standing nude before the long mirror, he inspected the newest scars in his collection. Chewbacca's bowcaster had taken an impressive chunk from his side on Starkiller Base, but the med droids had done a fair job of repairing the damage. A mess of white lines like a fat starburst now spread over his side.

The scar on his face had, with treatment, healed to a line that twisted across his face. Narrow between his eyes, it widened as it moved down his cheek toward his lips. He was lucky he hadn't lost an eye. Or his entire head. The humiliation of such a close brush was displayed on his face for all to see.

So why did he feel like wearing his mask and helmet less than ever?

He traced the scar, sliding his fingertips over the oddly textured skin. There wasn't a day that went by he didn't think of the lightsaber that dealt the blow; how the light scorched him and how he fell, certain he was seeing his death. His death in the form of a young omega standing over him, her eyes lit with rage, her fingers squeezed around a hilt, and her shoulders shaking with dark power as she fought every instinct telling her to cut him down. He _heard_ the voice in her head, the one urging her on. She was close to the edge, as close as they'd been when they dueled on the cliff.

She was more dangerous than any of his companions in the Knights of Ren.

No wonder he wanted her so badly.

After weeks of dreaming, he wouldn't deny it anymore.

Kylo Ren stared himself down in the mirror. Tilting his head to the side, he contemplated the hard planes of his body. He smiled faintly, seeing how hard his cock had grown while thinking of his brush with death. With Rey.

 _It's the rut,_ he thought, running his thickening length through his fist. Any omega will do. Find one, fuck her, and then forget her.

"Right. Sure," Kylo spoke to his reflection. He hated how much the sarcasm in his voice reminded him of someone else.

Turning away from the mirror, he pulled his civilian clothing from the bag and drew on a pair of brown trousers. After slipping on a simple cream-colored shirt and forest-green vest over it, Kylo located the com link in the room.

"Grallium House. Yes. Appointment code 2X9458 Alpha. Confirmed. Good, I'll be there soon."

Sitting down to put on his boots, Kylo tried to remember the last time he dressed in civilian gear. His last rut, he'd been in too much of a hurry to switch his clothing. How many years had it been since he looked in the mirror and seen himself like this?

Curious, he stood before his reflection again. His brows furrowed. He leaned over to the bedside table and found what he was looking for in the drawer: a stray hair tie.

Pulling back his long black hair and securing it, he considered himself again. His ears stuck out as much as ever. When he was a kid, he used to use the Force to wiggle his ears to make his friends laugh. His mouth quirked upward at the memory.

He hadn't realized how much younger he looked with shorter hair, or the appearance of it.

He rubbed his right ear and dropped the hand quickly. The burgeoning smile on his face fell away.

Kylo yanked the elastic tie from his hair and threw it in the garbage bin.

He grabbed his travel bag from the bed. Finding an air taxi shouldn't take long. From there to the heat house and peace of mind within an hour, he estimated.

Then his head would start to clear.

Then, he could start to forget.

* * *

Rey instantly loved the sugar-pink building on sight, with its golden detailing and white door. Its owner, however, took a moment to adapt to.

"WELCOME!" The Besalisk boomed. "Welcome to Bix's House." A sly grin slid over his tan reptilian face. "You're in luck, ladies. I…am Bix. I'll give you my personal care tonight. You'll have a good time." His deep laughter was loud enough to make Rey take a step back. "Come on in, come in, come in." The Besalisk waved them toward the door with two of his four arms, using the other two to scoop Rey and Jess's bags from the airspeeder.

"Thank you, Bix," Jess said. "That would be great."

Rey glanced around; the underworld was as unnerving as it sounded from its name. Every spot that didn't have a lamp or a glowing advertisement for a business was completely dark. The long alleyways between buildings were as black as starless space. As they exited the speeder and headed for the door, the groans and cries that emanated from the dark places reached their ears.

"I think someone is hurting," Rey hissed toward Jess. "We should help-"

"No, no!" Bix said, steering her toward the door. "It's just a pair who can't afford a lovely heat house like mine. Besalisks run the best places, you know. We don't come in alpha or omega flavors like you humans. It's better that way. You have the fun, we make the credits." He laughed, and rolled his head toward the fevered sounds. "They're almost done, don't worry about it."

As Bix finished speaking, a pleased sigh emitted from the alleyway.

"Alright then," Rey said, nodding. She was no stranger to the notion of public sex- people in Niima Outpost weren't exactly shy. They were a practical lot with a rough life. But she always stayed away from Niima when she was in heat. Here, the row of heat houses left the air saturated with pheromones. The raw scent of sex surrounded them; she felt her pulse pounding in her throat, and the rhythmic moans left her squeezing her thighs together.

"Like I said." Bix chuckled again, and his huge belly rippled with it. "Everyone's having a good time." He stopped abruptly and threw two arms out, pointing accusatorily at a Twi'lek skulking on the walkway. "You, get out of here!"

Bix explained to the women, "Some alphas, they hang around the houses, they won't come inside and be screened for compatibility or pay for a room. They wait outside, trying to bother the nice omegas and they don't take no for an answer. They don't respect choice. We offer the best protection. You picked a good place." Bix grinned, and despite the strangeness of the underworld and the distraction of her own body, Rey returned his smile.

"Thank you, Bix. I think we did choose the right place. Shall we take care of business first?"

He patted her on the shoulder. "I like how you think."

* * *

The itch began as he soon as he stepped out of the air taxi, onto the walkway in front of the orange façade of Grallium House.

It wasn't an itch precisely; it was more like a…sting, he thought. At the top of his spine, a sharp sensation of warmth blooming into something uncomfortable and pressured.

Kylo Ren gazed around the underworld, the garish glow of heat house signs lighting up the level on which he stood. He scanned the area, finding no overt threat.

But still, there was something. The alpha instincts that had dominated his will all week went into hyperdrive. Kylo gritted his teeth, and his fist curled around the strap of his bag until his nails bit into his palm. The veins in his neck tightened and stood out, and his nostrils flared, taking in the excess of scents around him.

 _Too many alphas._

 _Competition,_ his mind whispered.

His lip curled. No, these people were no competition for him. There was something else, something he wasn't seeing, something he was…

Feeling?

Ignoring his reflex to stay present when surrounded by a walkway full of alphas in the underworld, Kylo exhaled through his nose and closed his eyes.

Inhaling slowly, he let his consciousness expand, reaching out with his gift to hunt for the source of the itch.

Searching deep and stretching with all his power, what came back to him was a scent- soft and tangy, he found it now beyond the musk of the alphas around him.

 _Sand. Wind. The sweat of shoulders tanned by the sun. And something green, juicy and crisp- a spiky desert plant he'd once seen growing in the greenhouse his mother installed._

His mouth watered, and with an unshakeable understanding, he knew.

 _She's here._

Kylo opened his eyes and smiled.

He turned away from Grallium House and hurried down the walkway, following where his gut hold him to go. Scanning each house he passed, he grew more impatient. The alphas who stood in his path fell to the side one by one. Initially, he was subtle, using mind tricks to shoo away temperamental alphas spoiling for a fight but by the end of the first walkway, he threw an alpha against the wall without ever touching him.

It was more than a scent. It was _her._ Her mind, her strength. His whole body was aching to possess it.

Kylo tossed two betas from a lift and rode down a level to the next row of heat houses. Stepping out, the scent grew stronger with a wave of sweetness and hunger.

He broke into a run.

He didn't stop until he'd pushed aside three more alphas and came to a breathless stop in front of a bright pink building.

Kylo raised his hand and pressed the buzzer on the white door.


	4. Scenting

_**Thanks to Soyeahso for the beta read and notes!**_

 _ **So this chapter is fairly long and pretty explicit but that's what we're here for, isn't it?**_

* * *

"Do you have an appointment?" A bodiless voice rumbled through the speaker beside the door.

"I have one with Grallium. What I also have is enough credits to buy this stars-forsaken place," Kylo Ren hissed into the com receiver. He smoothed his palm across the door, feeling the mechanisms of the lock vibrate beneath his hand. And just beyond the door hovered the voice's owner. He reined in his irritation, focused on the presence, and reached out with the Force. "You _will_ let me in."

The voice chuckled. "What, you think you're some kind of Jedi?"

"No. I'm _not_ ," Kylo replied. Under his fingers, the half-dozen locks securing the heat house entrance flew open at once. With a flick of his hand, the door slid open, shocking the Besalisk female standing just behind it.

 _Ah, Besalisk,_ Kylo thought. No wonder she'd been resistant to the mental manipulation.

She recovered instantly, drawing blasters with two of her arms before Kylo stepped over the threshold, but the weapons soared uselessly from her hands with another wave of his hand.

The door slammed shut behind him, and the locks reactivated without a touch. Reaching into his pocket, Kylo withdrew the holostick containing his health-screening results and credits transfer information. The Besalisk woman- a pink nametag adorning her massive white smock read 'Leesa'- cocked her head to the side, curiosity lighting her eyes.

"Now," Kylo said between gritted teeth, nearing the end of his patience. "Who can I speak with about transferring my appointment from Grallium House to here?"

A fresh sweep of awareness skittered down his spine. He could feel Rey's closeness, her aching. Every second he had to wait was infuriating. He restrained the urge to throw the Besalisk aside and hunt for his omega within the house. His fingers flexed and cut into his palms.

"We don't let people hurt our clients," Leesa warned. "Whatever you are. Whatever you pay." Warily, she stepped behind the front desk, and inserted the stick into the port. The balance popped up and her eyes widened. The sum was more than ten times their usual fee.

"Make me a priority on your alpha list, bring the woman Rey to me for scenting, and all those credits are yours. I know she's here."

Leesa paused. "There's…a process. Compatibility screening. Oral prophylactics. And we won't force an omega to accept you. We can't."

Kylo Ren's eyes darkened, and a dream-vision of Rey spread open on his cloak, wet and begging, filled his mind.

"You won't have to."

* * *

If she weren't coming there for something as uncomfortable and potentially awkward as a heat, Rey thought she'd like to spend a holiday at Bix's just for the accommodations. The spacious bedroom's walls and floor were a soothing sand color that reminded Rey of home- of Jakku- but the bedding was a deep midnight blue. Testing the bed, it felt like sinking into a gentle D'Qar sea. In her heat state, almost everything felt rough, but the fibers of the cover were soft, pressing her tender skin with just the right amount of support. The unadorned wall to her right was actually a floor-to-ceiling view screen, Bix had explained in his quick tour. If she wanted to see the stars, a Coruscant skyline or a sun-drenched lake, all she had to do was touch a button. The best part, however…

"Anything? I can really order anything off the menu at all?" Rey said, eyeing the long list of food items on the holopad. She sat down on the bed, mouth starting to water as she scrolled through the menu of unfamiliar delicacies.

"We've got the deluxe packages, so yeah. And apparently his brother owns some kind of diner nearby, so Bix can handle special requests that aren't on there as well," Jess said. "Not that I feel like eating much when I'm in the thick of it, but it's nice to have options." She added, "And the Resistance is paying for us to get laid so they might as well pay for dinner too."

She hadn't think she could still laugh when she was shaking and sweating, but Rey found herself giggling. "So General Organa really provided the credits?"

"Said it was the least she could do, after Starkiller. And you brought her brother home." Jess glanced at the door, sliding open now to reveal a frowning Bix.

"What's wrong?" Rey asked. The Besalisk was hard to read using the instincts she had been training these last few months, but his grumpiness was written plainly on his face. His broad toothy smile had been replaced by a frustrated twist of his fleshy lips.

"Nothing, nothing. Bit of a talk with my wife Leesa. _Marriage._ " Bix boomed. "Always a hassle. Why, you hear something? No, you hear nothing. The walls are soundproofed. Be as loud as you like." His grin returned with a vengeance. "Now, time to part ways," he announced, scooping up Jess's bag. "Back for you in a couple minutes, Rey. Settle in, get changed, be ready. We have a few candidates for you to meet. Good compatibility levels. I think you'll like."

Rey's stomach churned. She felt anxious in a way she couldn't pinpoint, something beyond the usual skittishness induced by her heat. She sat up straighter. "It's time? Wait-"

Jess smiled, and turned to follow Bix out. "You'll be fine. Use the com link if there's really an emergency but try to relax. Let yourself enjoy this, Rey. Enjoy the freedom."

"Enjoy the freedom," Rey repeated. She shivered and rubbed at her arms. Even the brush of her fingertips against her skin felt obscenely good.

Jess waved and the door closed with a final _thunk_.

It was happening, it was real. Beyond the doors, somewhere in the house of heat, there was an alpha waiting for her. Someone to cover and claim her and make the burning hunger die. Someone to fuck and fill her up and exhaust her with the drive of their mating, until there was nothing left in the world but their bodies coming together in furious need.

Rey swallowed, feeling the wetness pooling between her thighs.

She jumped to her feet and grabbed at her travel bag. She'd packed a light sleeping shift for the occasion; she'd better change into it now that she was soaking through her trousers.

And it was just as well- the alpha was likely to tear her clothing from her, and she really did love her new vest.

* * *

Even knowing the rooms were soundproofed, the hallway of the heat house seemed eerily silent to Rey. She'd stretched out her mind enough to know there were warm, happy, occasionally frantic presences in the rooms she passed moving from her chamber to the Scenting Room. But there was absolutely no sound coming from others, only her own slight panting as she willed herself to keep walking.

The tension grew with every step, drawn tight like a worn coil of wiring ready to snap at the next engine thrust.

The hairs on the back of her neck stood up, and the sensation raced down her spine like a warning shot.

 _Calm, calm,_ Rey chanted inside. _It's just sex. You want this. You planned for this. And it's the only thing that can make the dreams stop. Probably._

Rey couldn't understand the nervous sensations rippling through her. She didn't romanticize sex, she was sure of it. Well, not much anyway. The only reason she hadn't done it yet, besides lacking anyone she was attracted to beyond a fleeting fancy, was that being omega, she would almost certainly get pregnant without major precautions in place. And in Niima Outpost, pregnancy had been a death sentence for people like her.

They didn't exactly hand out expensive reproduction-control implants on Jakku. She could barely afford a meal, let alone the medical attention it would require for an implantation. The only kindness Unkar Plutt had ever done her was pointing her toward an old Kyuzo omega scavenger who explained young Rey's changing body to her.

Rey craved touch, and envied the carelessness of the couples who moaned in tents and fucked against walls, mindless in their desire for each other. Hunched in her AT-AT alone at night, she envied them so much she hated them.

Dr. Tanja didn't know how much she'd freed Rey when she offered her repro-control implants without judgment and cost.

Passing by a gold-framed mirror in the hallway, Rey paused and took herself in. She'd left her trio of buns in for practicality, but they were limp from sweating. The thin, sleeveless shift she'd thrown on was perfect for sleeping but she saw now, in bright light, did nothing to hide the shadows of her nipples. She'd washed the fabric herself countless times with rocks and salt to soften the shift the way Niima scavengers had taught her. Her cheeks were dark pink, flushed and striking against the hazel shine of her eyes. Seeing them, she realized how much she'd bitten her lips in the past few days, as she writhed in her bunk aboard the transport shuttle.

She looked ready. Her scent was overwhelming, even to her. And there was alphas waiting for her pleasure.

Looking up at Bix, waiting patiently by the entrance, Rey nodded.

"Show me."

* * *

She wasn't sure what she'd expected but it wasn't this.

"Don't be shy. Come- scent." Bix steered her into the dim room. Lit with one corner light and a neutralizer that removed outside odors, the room was specially designed to focus the inhabitants on one thing: finding the ideally scented partner for mating.

"Is he alright?" Rey shook her head in confusion. Across the room, the kneeling alpha's arms were stretched high, with his wrists cuffed to the wall above him. His ankles were similarly secured to the floor. The position forced his shoulders to strain and his dark-haired head to drop forward into an almost submissive posture.

It was so startling, it took her a moment to realize his long, lean-muscled body was completely nude. A heartbeat after that realization was another- that he smelled better than anything else than she'd ever scented before. But then she'd never encountered a human alpha in rut this close up before.

"He's fine. Very compatible, healthy, oral prophylaxis is in place so there's no waiting. He's ready for you. _If_ you want him."

Rey took another step forward into the room.

Her head swam with the musk of him, and with the wave of resentment flowing from the alpha.

 _No surprise, he doesn't care for kneeling for an omega,_ Rey thought, nearly grinning. _Or maybe for anyone?_ Beneath the rich earthy scent of him that was tickling her nose was the strangest sense there was something else…something, somewhere she was supposed to be noticing.

 _Go away_ , Rey swore at her inner sense. The Force was useful, but sometimes it was a pest. Her heart thudded in her ches. All she wanted to do in that moment, right then, was to be in her very physical present. The flush in her cheeks sank down to her throat and across her breasts, and her nipples tingled where the shift scraped against them.

Bix scooted back, gesturing her happily forward with all four hands. "You don't need me, I think. I wait outside. Ease the way. Ha, yeah." With a brilliant grin, the Besalisk ducked out of the room and slid the door closed behind him.

Following her nose, Rey hurried forward until she found herself standing by the alpha, her fingertips grazing his wide shoulders. The expanse was well-sculpted, with toned muscles moving beneath her fingers. Taking in the size of his back and the length of his bent legs, she realized that on his feet, the alpha would tower over her.

His head lifted slightly, and she felt some of the tension in his body drain away. His shoulders relaxed beneath her touch, and his hands unfisted in the cuffs.

"Is this alright with you?" Rey murmured, her voice husky. Now that she was standing over him, she was able to pick up more notes in his scent. She leaned in and waited, her mouth watering over his neck.

The alpha nodded quickly, and shifted restlessly in his restraints.

"Thank the stars," Rey blurted out before pressing her lips and nose to his throat. "You smell incredible." Inhaling deeply, taking in the essence of him, she was struck with a wave of desire- and the uncanny sense of the familiar. She nudged the unwanted thought away, and caressed his intriguingly scarred back. Pushing aside his fall of hair, Rey licked a thin line up the back of his neck.

 _A scent like the forests,_ she realized, stroking his arms as she drew in more of his scent. _The leaves and sunlight and the cold wind_. _Something wild._ She felt a raw desire to be thrown onto her back on a rough bed of leaves and taken with her lover's hands wrapped in her hair, and realized she was remembering a dream she'd had a couple weeks before. She'd been running through the forest, her pussy wet with anticipation from the chase, and when she finally gave up, gasping and falling in a clearing, he'd taken her in the leaves.

 _Takodana._ The word flew into Rey's mind. The heat rose in her and she felt wetness dripping down her thighs. _I was dreaming of Takodana's trees. And his eyes-_

"Kylo," Rey gasped against his skin. "Kylo Ren."

* * *

A stillness fell over the alpha. The squirming in the restraints ceased, and Kylo Ren's head lifted.

Turning his head to allow the light to fall on his face and the lightsaber brand she'd left behind, he met Rey's eyes over his shoulder. Rey scrambled back from him, grabbing at her waist to reflexively reach for the lightsaber that usually hung there.

Her uncontrolled fear, the situation piled onto her instinctual omega heat panic, ripped through the barriers between them he'd constructed in the Scenting Room. With the boundary in shreds, their powerful Force signatures were apparent at once.

"Stop. I'm not in a position to threaten you, scavenger," Kylo explained. He wiggled his fingers in their cuffs. Rey's eyes followed the action. "I'm no threat to you. I'm not going to hurt you. You could hurt me, if you wanted. I don't think you want to though." His gaze dropped to the soaking juices between her thighs, the wet patch spreading over the lap of Rey's white shift. He wanted to dive into the scent of her, throw her skirt up and bury his face in that circle of wetness until she screamed.

"You have no idea what I want," Rey snapped. Her eyes darted around the room. It was bare of anything that could be considered a weapon, probably not on accident. Alphas could be very aggressive when rejected.

"Don't I?" Kylo said softly.

"If you're not a threat, which I don't believe, then why are you here?" Without taking her eyes from him, she began retreating.

"The dreams."

Halfway back toward the door, Rey stopped. "What?"

"Dreams. So many I've lost track. Mostly of a desert hell-hole. The place I'm told was your home. You, and me." Kylo hesitated. "'I could show you the stars.' Do you remember that, Rey? And then me, giving you everything you need?"

Horrified, Rey slumped against the wall. "You saw it- what I dreamed?"

"Since the beginning. I didn't like it any more than you did. You defeated me, you took Grandfather's lightsaber, you _marked_ me. I did not want this. I thought perhaps my uncle was instructing you in a new Jedi way of playing with my head, tormenting me."

Rey's disgust turned to annoyance. "As if Luke would ever use such-"

"You don't even know him," Kylo interrupted. "But then I started dreaming and I knew they were my dreams. I want it to stop. Don't you?"

"Wouldn't it be easier to kill you?" Rey said, her fingers curling in a way that Kylo knew meant she was wishing for her lightsaber. He hid a grin. She had more fire in her than a Jedi should. He'd felt it on Starkiller Base. His offer hadn't been entirely based in strategy, though there'd been some of that too. He wondered how his uncle felt about Rey's depth of passion.

He wasn't even sure how he felt about it if he was being honest with himself. He didn't want to.

"Killing you would be easy." Kylo agreed. "But all things considered, I'd much rather fuck you senseless for a week."

* * *

Rey was furious. She was absolutely horrified by everything he was saying, and the matter-of-fact way he said it contradicting with his searing brown eyes. So why did his words make a new flood of juices well between her legs? Why, when he spoke, did her eyes continue traveling over the sculpted muscles of his body, stretched between cuffs? Why did her fingers curl under, itching with the urge to drag through his silky mess of black hair?

He was there for every dream, every time she drifted off to sleep and into his arms. And he'd suffered for it too.

Rey stood, struck dumb with the weight of it.

"It wouldn't be the first time, you know."

"What?"

"It wouldn't be the first the Light and the Dark sides have met, for this purpose. There have been other warriors, alphas and omegas, who joined together as needed. If we had time, you could research it. You'd see. We're not the first. Do you think many people can handle what we are?" He held her questioning stare.

The loneliness of the past twenty years sprawled behind her. Rey swallowed. "No."

"No one will ever know. No one needs to."

The room filled with their rising scents combined and Rey felt lightheaded with the power of it. Her body ached with the primal urge. It would be so easy. "No one needs to…"

"Take me, Rey. Then walk away, when the heat is done." Kylo's eyes burned into her. "Take _me._ "

The weeks of wanting had worn her away until she was clinging to the thinnest shred of sense.

"I can't trust you," Rey swore. "I can't."

"I don't want your trust." Kylo's patience was at an end. His shoulders bulged as he tugged at the cuffs holding him back. "I want to have you until I don't want it anymore. Do we have an agreement?"

Rey covered her eyes with her palms and searched inside herself for the place of calm, the source within she always went to.

But all she found was a hungry pit of need, calling for the scent and the man who had awoken her in more ways than she could admit.

Opening her glittering eyes, Rey threw everything she cared about into the wind and nodded.

"Yes."

* * *

The cuffs shattered a second after the word left her mouth. As he leapt to his feet and scooped her up into his arms, Rey realized she was a fool to believe a set of standard restraints could contain Kylo Ren.

Following her gaze, Ren shrugged and surprised her with a wry smile.

"Made you feel better though, didn't they?"

Held aloft, Rey was caught between wanting to kiss him and wanting to punch him. She wriggled in his arms. "You sneaky son of a-"

Kylo's teeth sank into her throat, forcing a moan from her even as he carried her from the Scenting Room.

Alarm rose in her. "Wait, no biting."

"Oral prophylaxis, didn't they explain it?" Kylo muttered against her neck. His tongue worked against the sensitive skin. "You don't have to worry about bonding bites. Stars know I don't want that."

"He did explain, I forgot," Rey sighed, turning her face to his hard chest. She couldn't look at his him suddenly. He was too real, too heated against her. She couldn't do this if it felt too real. Could she? His lips skated over her throat, while his strong arms squeezed her tight to him. " _Oh_. Room 6. Please hurry."

Bix was as good as his word about easing the way. Rey realizing dimly that he must have been monitoring the Scenting session even after leaving, as they were uninterrupted in the hallway, and the doors opened and closed for them exactly as they needed.

* * *

She had no idea if she was doing the right thing- she was almost positive she wasn't- but Rey couldn't regret the view. She hadn't been wrong in her estimate about the alpha's height when he was on his knees. Though she wasn't a short woman, Kylo loomed over her. His arms enveloped her with a reach that made her curse him in battle, but sigh with pleasure when he effortlessly carried her back to the bedroom.

She was less entranced when Kylo dropped Rey in a graceless heap onto the midnight-blue bed.

"Prick!" she yelped.

Kylo glanced downward at himself, and smiled drily. "Yes."

Rey followed his eyes, and her mouth went dry. _Oh kriff. How is that going to fit inside me?_

Distracting her from the inevitably alpha size of him, Kylo crawled on top of her. He put his over-wide mouth to good use, dropping kisses over her collarbone and teasing her pink nipples through the fabric until they hardened. Moving back up to nibble on her throat again, his cock pressed against her center for the first time, and she felt a shred of fear. He was so big. Bigger than she'd guessed and dreamed, and no matter how wet she was, it was going to hurt.

 _Good._ She squirmed against him, drawing the hardness closer to her sex.

Rey reached up, sinking a fist into his black hair. "When this is over, it's over. You understand." She scraped the nails of her other hand across his chest, teasing his dark nipples into points. "Understand."

"Yes," Kylo asked, pushing Rey back by the shoulders. He peered down at her, her paleness in the white shift framed by the rich blue covers of the bed. With one hand and added boost from the Force, he ripped the shift from throat to hem, and spread the pieces open to reveal her breasts and the glistening curls between her legs.

"Fu-" Rey's curse was cut off by his mouth. The tentative touch of his tongue coaxing her lips open distracted her, and surprised her with its gentleness. His full lips were made for kissing, she discovered, taking her mouth over and over until she found her body twined around his while she kissed him back breathlessly. He wasn't much more practiced than she was, she realized through the haze, sloppy in his hunger; but the ache in her core sharpened more with every flick of his tongue against hers.

"I can't wait- more later- but now-" She tried to explain and failed. Rey flushed, and threw aside the shreds of her sleeping shift.

Clambering further back on the bed, she spread her legs and looked into Kylo Ren's eyes. Light reflected in their depths, turning the dark brown to a paler russet that reminded Rey of the soil in the forest of their dream. The scar of her lightsaber cut a white line between his eyes, dividing them and slashing down his cheek. Reaching up to cup his cheek, her thumb found a small mole that had just missed being sliced by her weapon. Kylo shuddered.

Brushing aside her hand, he rose over her, kneeling and stroking the thick alpha length of his cock. He seemed impossibly broad, hovering there. She had the dizzying sensation that she'd been in the same position before. She held his gaze, held it so long their breath fell into sync.

Her mouth moved, but no words came out. There was nothing left to say. Finally, Kylo slid his hands under Rey's knees and hoisted her up. Sinking into blissful mindlessness, Rey felt the distant brush of the Force holding her in position, her hips tilting as the broad head of his cock breached her.

"Faster, keep going," Rey moaned, the tease of his thickness not enough. Her clit ached for attention and she needed to be filled. She didn't care who he was anymore. This was all she needed.

Ignoring her demand, Kylo inched into her, relishing every clench and flutter of Rey's muscles as they fought to take in his girth.

She wiggled against him- he was too much, but just enough. It was as indescribable as the Force, in her and part of her and all around Rey. Arching to take more of him inside her, Rey spread her thighs wider. Her hands scrabbled at the sheets for purchase, pushing down to brace herself to accept more of him.

Kylo gasped, momentarily losing control of the Force and allowing Rey to fall out of position.

"Stay put," he ordered, his eyes flashing. "You feel too fucking good." Recovering control, he squeezed the thickening ring around the base of his cock where his knot would grow. Even scenting Rey had been enough to make the knot begin to form. He eased back inside her harder, her pussy more relaxed now. Sweat trickled down his chest as he held back, thrusting in and out of his omega carefully, stretching and working Rey until she was spread wide, flooding them with her juices, and bucking against him.

"Please, yes," Rey begged. "Give it to me, Kylo."

There was no holding back then, once she was open and pleading for fucking; her bright eyes locked onto his without shame or fear. The air between them shimmered with light as he sank into her without mercy.

The alpha took her, and it was everything Rey had ever dreamed.

She lost count of his thrusts, the number of times she looked up and saw him gazing down at her with wonder and desire, even as his cock rode her. She held onto him using every muscle within her, stroking his thick cock to cool the burn of heat inside her. He didn't seem frighteningly big any longer; the body joined to hers was perfectly heavy and thick in every way. She felt full to bursting, but still begged for more, because this is what it was supposed to be, the alpha to her omega. His fingers dipped between her thighs and found her swollen and slippery; a single slide of the heel of his palm over her clit left her wailing, clinging to his shoulders and crying out his name.

The first climax sent shivers shaking through her body. Kylo smiled down at her with the smug pride of an alpha, but didn't slow in his thrusting, driving Rey to two more orgasms before she felt the bulge on the base of his cock nudging at her entrance.

 _The knot._ In her anxieties over everything else, she hadn't put much thought into it but it was happening.

Kylo's arrogance melted away as he neared his own frantic peak; his nostrils flared and his hips pumped harder and harder, the alpha's knot swelling and growing until it slid inside Rey. With a desperate push, he fucked into her one last time, and with a great hot gush, Kylo came.

Gasping, he buried his face into Rey's neck, nipping at her throat and tonguing at the pink marks he left.

After a moment, he sighed, and wrapping his arms around Rey, rolled them both over until she was on top with his cock still buried inside her.

The knot sealed them together tightly. Rey squeezed instinctively, and was rewarded to hear Kylo hiss beneath her. Experimentally, she flexed her inner muscles again, and felt more cum pour from the huge knot filling her and locking her to the alpha. Kylo threw one arm over his eyes, and used the other to hold Rey steady on him.

"Don't." He said wearily. "We'll be tied together for a little while. Let it flow naturally. Just…rest." Reaching forward, he tugged her downward until Rey found herself laying against Kylo's chest.

Rey squirmed, feeling the fullness of his body fitting into hers. As the balm of his cum inside her lessened the heat, for the first time in hours- maybe days- she could think clearly. Almost. His musk was as strong as ever, and lying on him, she was tempted to run her hands through his light sprinkling of chest hair.

"Is it always like this?" Staring at the wall, she finally brought herself to ask.

"Like what?" His hand smoothed over her back.

"This good?"

He took so long to reply she thought he wasn't going to, but eventually she heard his voice. "No."

"Kylo."

"Yes?"

"I still hate you."

There was the strangest thread of amusement in his voice when he answered. "I know."


	5. Tasting

**_Thanks to SoYeahSo for the beta read, and thank you to everyone for your reviews and story alerts!_**

* * *

It couldn't happen again. Leaning her hot forehead against the cool white surface of the sonic shower, Rey swore to herself. It wouldn't happen again.

The problem was, it already had. Many times, judging by the chrono on the refresher wall. Somehow the evening had melted into a new day.

And she only had to look down at her naked body to see the evidence of her weakness, the physical proof of how she'd spent the last several hours. The sonic pulsed around her, cleaning away the evidence of their pleasure, but she could still feel Kylo's touch everywhere. She could still smell his dark scent blending with hers, rising from her pores.

Extending her right calf as the sonic's vibrations soothed over it, she felt a cramp and winced. Rey distantly recalled climbing atop the alpha the night before and bouncing on him until he'd groaned and thrown her onto her stomach. After the first dozen thrusts, it grew blurry, but she remembered lifting her ass up and spreading her thighs wider even as she buried her face into the pillow.

"Scum. Bastard. That son of a-" General Organa's face leapt into her mind, and Rey cut herself off. She flushed with the abrupt realization, and groaned against the wall. She hadn't just slept with the hated enemy- he was her commander's son. Even if the general never found out what happened, _Rey_ would know. How could she sit across from her in the mess hall ever again, knowing Leia's son as intimately as she did? Knowing how his lips tasted- how Kylo's grim face relaxed into boyish joy just after he reached his peak- knowing how he moaned when Rey licked-

 _You don't know him at all,_ Rey argued with herself _. This is just sex. Calm down. After the heat's over, you'll get the kriff out of here and wipe this from your mind._

Rey banged her forehead against the wall, letting the mortification roll through her. It wouldn't be that simple. It was never that simple.

The thought of the mess hall was an unfortunate one, she realized. Her hunger screamed for attention, gurgling in her belly. It was nearly impossible to think logically about anything but solving the hunger problem when she faced starvation. An old habit.

With the momentary ebb of her heat, other questions came to mind as well. How had Kylo Ren even found her in Galactic City to begin with? This was all _his_ fault, she realized as the sonic cycle finished. Rey's growing panic morphed into anger. Feeling more calm and in control, she decided she liked it.

 _Yes- it's all his fault,_ she determined, throwing open the door of the shower.

She didn't bother with clothing, letting her unbound and tangled hair be her only covering. She had dressed herself last night after the second time they joined, but those clothes wound up shredded on the floor as well. (To be fair, she acknowledged inwardly, she did beg him to do it.) Marching back into the bedroom, Rey found her opponent stretched out nude on the turquoise sofa, scrolling through Bix's menu. With his height, Kylo barely fit on the piece of furniture, his lower legs dangling over the arm of the sofa.

"Did you follow me here? Did you plan this, Ren?" She demanded.

"Mandalorian oranges?"

"What?" Rey frowned. Crossing her arms, she glared at him. To her deep annoyance, she found her eyes wandering over his body.

"Oranges. Do you like them? We need to eat. I do anyway." The muscles of his pale, scarred torso flexed as he turned on his side to meet her eyes. "Your stomach was rumbling. I don't care if you starve, but I'd prefer not to listen to the noise."

As she attempted to maintain the glower, he flipped unconcerned through the datapad's list of food options. Rey's gaze drifted from the black slash of his brows, interrupted by the white line of his scar, over his lips slightly pursed in thought, and down across the muscled body draped over the cushions. Her belly tightened as her eyes dropped lower, and Rey cursed her traitorous hormones again.

Kylo pressed the button to activate the com link to the front desk. "Ordering, Room 6: double interstellar garden salad. Extra order of Mandalorian oranges and juicemellon with it. Four portions of nerf steak, rare. Pitcher of mountain ice water. And send a med droid in to refresh the oral prophylactic afterward." Closing the link, he sat up and tossed the datapad aside in one fluid movement. His piercing brown eyes pinned her from across the room.

"I wasn't looking for you. I'm in rut if you haven't noticed. The heat district is the reasonable place to be. This degree of conceit in a common scavenger _is_ amusing though."

His eyes took on a new light and his lips curved upward, and Rey was seized with the urge to carve the look off his face. Fists clenched, she crossed the distance to the sofa in two seconds and jumped, landing with her knee only just missing his cock.

* * *

This was probably the most fun he'd had in years. Not that _fun_ was high on his list of priorities, or necessary for his goals. But when Rey launched herself at him, teeth clenched and her expressive eyes blazing with intent, Kylo felt himself fill with joy.

He hadn't been sure what to expect earlier. After their frenzied mating burned away the evening, they'd finally collapsed in exhaustion, still tied together. He was seventy percent certain she'd be gone in the morning, but he'd woken to find her snoring like a bantha, sprawled across his chest. Her body burned like a furnace against his. She slept fitfully for another half hour; tucking his arms beneath his head, he watched her and resisted the temptation to dip inside her mind to see if she still dreamed of him. He could feel the rush of alpha hormones fighting to come to the surface, but he'd be damned if he couldn't master himself for a short while.

Instead he grabbed the datapad and fiddled with the viewscreen option settings; after searching through its archives, the barren sand-colored wall vanished and was replaced by sunrise: beams of light breaking through luxuriant tall trees on a mountaintop.

Rey was awake only a moment before she was licking into his mouth and guiding his fingers to her clit. He wasted no time, rolling her beneath him and pumping into her, with her chestnut waves of hair spread around her like a halo.

"What is this?" She sighed over his shoulder, as she crossed legs around his waist. "This place."

"Hmmm?" He withdrew from her tight channel, and teased her tender clit with the head of his cock. Rey slid her hand down, encircling him and running a finger around the thickening ring at the base. Kylo shuddered and plunged back inside her drenching heat.

"There," she panted with his thrust, turning to face the sunrise. "It feels real." The warm rays fell on her cheeks and she smiled. Hovering over her, with his cock still buried inside her, Kylo was struck with the purity of her light.

It was incredibly annoying. "It's not real." He sank into her. "It's a projection." Capturing Rey's chin, he took her mouth and rolled his hips with every stroke of his tongue against hers. It wasn't long before his knot rose and sealed them together. Rey squeezed him tight with her inner muscles, milking him of every drop until her heat cooled and they drew apart carefully.

"Where is it? That place," Rey said, crawling away from him. "I know it's real. I could taste your lie."

Flopped onto his back, still spent from his orgasm, Kylo waved her off irritably. "Just…a place I used to go to."

Rey stared at him, her hazel eyes unrelenting.

Kylo closed his eyes, and shrugged. "Endor. The forest moon of Endor."

"Oh. I see." Her reply was followed with a shockingly loud rumble of hunger from her gut.

Kylo opened one eye and his eyebrows rose with it. Defensively, Rey crossed an arm over her empty belly and glared at him. Without added comment, she spun around and ran for the 'fresher.

Looking at the sticky landscape of his own body, Kylo realized it was probably a good idea. The suite had double refreshers. Ideal for strangers who needed some space apart from one another during the heat. He remembered a few years ago retreating to the 'fresher just to get away from an overly chatty omega. In that instance, he sat against the door reading a Mon Cala historical epic for an hour until the urge to rut returned and overcame his distaste for the omega's conversation.

He headed for his 'fresher's sonic, expecting Rey to be waiting when he was done, but the room was still empty when he returned. Bix's efficient droid maid had visited upon the triggering of both sonics and delivered a fresh set of sheets, towels and soothing balms without making a sound.

"Impressive," Kylo murmured. If he didn't have a policy against returning to heat houses, he would certainly frequent this one.

The thought of the maid making a delivery brought food to mind; Kylo grabbed the datapad, took a seat on the sofa, and brought up the menu.

After she'd spent forty minutes in the shower, he began to wonder if Rey was going to make a run for it this morning after all. The sonic's light motor hummed, and beyond that, he felt the disturbance of her emotions. Reaching out with the Force, he sensed her turbulence.

She was hurting. Angry- at him. And the hollowness in her stomach was gnawing at her. A scavenger who never grew to accept hunger, Kylo contemplated. Who never accepted the state of things. Interesting. Her fury was growing, with a familiar energy- he'd seen her rage glowing down at him on Starkiller Base, when she'd been ready to kill. She crackled with that potential now: her fear, lust, confusion and anger all tangled up.

Just shy of an hour, the sonic's cycle finally came to a stop. When she stepped into the room, shoulders squared and her hair a wild cloak around her, he was ready for her.

* * *

She landed, and he allowed her bony knee to sink in between his legs. Her left knee landed on the other side of his thigh, leaving Rey straddling him unsteadily on the springy cushion. He controlled his instinctive reaction, refusing to let her feel him through the Force, and locked her arms behind her in an iron grip while she was still off-balance. Using only the pressure of his mind, he secured her wrists together. The slight tilt of his lips grew to a full smile when he saw her realize the extent of her predicament.

"What- you- dammit!" Rey sputtered. A long knotted curl of hair hung over one eye. She shook her head futilely, trying to clear her vision but only making it worse. Another cluster of waves flopped forward onto her cheek.

Kylo adjusted her thighs, spacing them wider so she was steadier, with the one in between his legs nudging against his cock and bringing him back to hardness. "This was a good idea, now that I think of it." He slid a hand around to settle against the small of her bare back. His other came around to cup her ass and press her forward. Her soft skin heated so easily in his palm, he reflected. You'd think her flesh would've turned to nerf leather after a decade on a desert planet but she was supple and responsive, shivering even now as his left hand smoothed up her back and curved around the front to tease a nipple into readiness.

"I hate you," she breathed, leaning into his touch. The tension in her restrained arms lessened as her eyes fluttered shut. The sweet and salty tang of her scent was rising; he could feel the wetness of her cunt spilling onto his thigh. She was ready for more.

"Fine," he agreed, rolling her nipple between his thumb and forefinger. "But you love it when I'm inside you." He pinched the sensitive tip until she moaned. "Don't you."

"Yes," Rey said, grinding against him. Opening her thighs, she angled herself forward until her clit brushed against his coarse leg. "Harder."

"Fuck yourself on my leg," Kylo ordered, using the Force to tug on her bound wrists until Rey's shoulders were pulled back and her breasts tipped up.

"It's not enough," she gasped as he leaned forward to take one pink nipple into his mouth. His teeth grazed over the bud, sharper and sucking with more force until Rey threw her hips into it, riding his thigh and dragging her clit over his rough skin until she soaked his lap. The muscles of her belly and thighs shook with effort, but still she sobbed, "I _can't_."

"Off," he rasped, releasing his hold on her wrists and pushing Rey to his side. "Turn over." She scrambled onto her knees, beginning to turn and lay on the cushions, but Kylo's hand on her arm stopped her.

"No, stay up. Grab the back of the sofa."

"What are -"

"I want to taste you."

"Oh," she breathed, climbing onto the cushion. Her knees sank in as she leaned forward and curled her fingers around the edge of the furniture, her fingertips brushing the wall. Rey's forehead dropped to rest on the velvety back edge.

Sliding to the floor, Kylo pushed her thighs apart and dipped in between her legs. For a moment, his lips hovered over her folds, his nose inhaling the raw aroma of her sex. He'd scented her in his dreams over the months, and tracked her through the entertainment district's heat walks; the lushness of her made his mouth water and his throat tighten. He was thirsty for more of her even as he was wrapped in her scent. It was mad and infuriating and it made him wonder how many times he had to fuck her before she didn't overwhelm him anymore. The fever seemed to grow worse every hour.

Leaning in, his tongue lapped up the lone drop of her wetness rolling down her inner thigh.

"Kylo," she pled, wiggling back into him.

Opening her folds with his long fingers, his tongue sought out the sensitive spots that left Rey shaking and swearing and digging her nails into the back of the sofa. Kylo dove into her, his nose nuzzling deep into her pussy while his tongue scraped at her clit. His Force control held her tight to him, locking Rey to his face while his hands cupped her ass and spread her center open for the taking. He squeezed and coaxed her into rocking back on his tongue, fucking against him in a way that was familiar, uncannily so. With a hazy understanding, he knew it came back to all the times they had done this in their dreams. On the sands, in his cold bed, bent over a durasteel table in the burnt-out wreck of a ship she'd found- they were everywhere.

 _Remember,_ he thought, willing her to understand him with his mouth wrapped around her clit, sucking. _Ride me._ _Use me, take it._

"I- oh, stars- oh, _Kylo,_ " Rey cried, reaching her peak. Her body shook with the power of it; stretching a palm up across her lower back, Kylo felt the shimmering ripple of her pleasure connecting with the Force that bound them together. He saw a flash of whiteness and what felt like a thousand suns bleeding in his vision. The tide swept over them both, and for a delirious moment, he couldn't breathe, buried in Rey's sex with her juices drowning him.

He would've died happy.

"Kriff. _Kriff_ ," Rey repeated, before falling onto the sofa face-down. Her thighs gleamed with wetness. "I didn't know I could feel like that without a knot."

Kylo's body glowed with the after-effects of her orgasm; that he hadn't come yet was only a minor distraction. He stroked his hard length and considered the overflow he'd experienced with Rey. Reaching so deeply into the Force for those few seconds when she came, it had almost been like he was a part of her when they fucked. He was still having trouble shaking off the dizzying effects of it. Wiping moisture away from his chin, Kylo sat back on his heels and laughed.

"You can't even laugh without sounding like a smug arse, can you."

"I don't know." Kylo jumped to his feet. "I don't care. Sit up."

Rey rolled onto her back and nudged his leg with her foot. "You're far too bossy. Isn't there anyone in the First Order who tells you where to stick it?"

"Just a general or two, and occasionally one of my knights tries to kill me."

Rey's eyed narrowed. "You're joking. Aren't you?"

Kylo bent down and scooped Rey up into his arms. She yelped as he swung around and sat back down with her in his lap. "Maybe I'm joking." He arranged her thighs around his legs, with her center pressing into his erection. "Maybe it's my life."

"Oh you're still-" Rey squirmed against the hardness beneath her.

"Yes," said Kylo. "But we can-"

He didn't finish the sentence- Rey's deft hands wrapped around his cock, steadying him until she sheathed him completely with her heat.

"Sorry, you were saying?" Rey teased, rotating her hips. Her hazel eyes sparkled, but under the playful tone was the edge of resentment.

 _Complicated,_ Kylo thought. The word passed through his mind, the only coherent thing he could manage before Rey set to riding his cock with abandon.

She peered down at him, her eyes darkening as her hair fell forward and cast her face in shadows. Her curls spilled over her small breasts, offering teasing glimpses of her nipples as she bounced on him. When he wasn't making enough noise for her liking, Rey took to sucking and nipping at his throat as she fucked him, a mockery of the mating bites a true pair gave one another.

Kylo roared and came as her teeth grazed his neck lightly, with her pussy clenched around his huge knot. Rey sank her fingers into his hair and pulled as his knot shot waves of sensation through her, driving her to a new height. Fists clamped down on her hips, Kylo poured himself into her, realizing that at some point in the past day, he had completely lost control of the situation- and of himself.


	6. Seven Days

After that, time fell away and the days melted into one another: a collection of memories, a constellation of breathless images connected by only surges of feeling that left Rey flushed and confused.

Rey had no recollection of the gargantuan food order arriving to the room but she did have a dim memory of Kylo hauling her onto his lap and feeding her sticky slices of Mandalorian oranges until she shoved his hand away and pushed him onto his back. The tartness of the fruit lingered on her tongue as she dragged her mouth down his chest, over the taut muscles of his belly, and lower. The last thing she recalled of that moment was the widening of his dark eyes gazing down at hers as Rey swallowed the length of him deep…

…a hazy memory of discovering a button next to their bed and realizing it lead to a pop-out dejarik table. Their playful round of the game quickly turned competitive. Wrapped in nothing but a bedsheet, Kylo glowered at her imperiously when her Grimtaash destroyed his Monnok for the win. She laughed, and he punished her with kisses…

…the unbeatable pressure of the suite's sonic, coming back to her time and time again as Rey luxuriated in it. She recalled Kylo throwing her over his shoulder and depositing her in her fresher after she complained of being too sore to walk. Rude bastard, she called out. She could've sworn she saw a smirk on his lips as he turned to visit his own fresher…

…Kylo fiddling with the view screen custom settings while a progressively more heated Rey whined at him to leave it be, to get back inside her. He ignored her, programming in new sights even as Rey's hands slid around his body to tease his heavy cock and stroke his balls. Rey recalled the sudden shock of warmth from the screen's projection adding to her own heat, as the blazing sun of Jakku rose over a familiar landscape. Kylo dropped the datapad, took her in his arms, and took her on her knees, as he once had long ago in a dream. With the sun on her face and Kylo's knot plunging deep into her cunt, Rey begged for his bite as she came…

…the droid bustling in to refresh the sheets and Kylo's oral prophylactic, and Bix admonishing them over the room's com like a stern mother. "Be more careful, Jedi. Once when you arrived should have been enough. Three is unheard of," the Besalisk boomed. "How does he know I'm training to be a Jedi?" Rey asked dreamily from under the covers where she dozed. It must've been near the end. She was bone-weary and drifting. Every muscle ached, but the itch, the desire to mount and be mounted was finally, blessedly lessening. But the Besalisk's words…"Three of what?" Kylo frowned and didn't answer, instead curling himself around her and stroking her back until she fell asleep…

…dreaming and wandering to strange places. A grove of tall trees and a little boy who was left behind again. He watched his mother fly away; he waved and pretended not to mind. On Jakku, Rey witnessed the day she'd relived a thousand times; only this time, instead of watching the ship fly away without her, Rey turned and realized someone stood in the sands. Unkar Plutt and his sweaty grip melted away. Beside her now the dark-eyed boy stood silently, as frightened as Rey, his hands plastered over his ears to block out the whispers…

...hearing the cheerful beep of the com link as Jess reached out to let Rey know that she was done with her heat, and would be waiting in a cantina five levels up. "Is your first alpha everything you expected?" Jess whispered. From where she lay, Rey scrambled to grab the link without getting up. She pressed the button to respond, while peering up at Kylo moving deep within her, his hard and steady rhythm sending ripples through her belly. He kissed the dimple of her right cheek, and then paused while she composed a response. Rey's hips shifted restlessly, her inner muscles clenching around him. "He's- he's-" She studied the contours of his face, the strength of his nose, the vulnerable fullness of his lips, the scar that divided his cheek like lightning. Entwined together, their scent had become something earthy and dizzying. Arching to kiss the mole on his cheek that she had only just missed with her 'saber, Rey smiled. Kylo's eyebrows rose. "He's what I need." Jess laughed and laughed…

…feeling the incredible ache of wanting him, stronger all the time, and the annoyance of it all as the heat began to fade. The dawning awareness that things were going to change and revert soon, the dread sitting like a boulder in her gut. In one of their rest periods between matings, Rey watched him practice forms on the floor, stretching and twisting his body as she'd seen no one do before. She wondered if Luke had taught him the techniques or if someone else had, and almost asked. But she knew that mentioning his uncle would break their tenuous peace, the place out of time they'd carved for themselves in the house of heat…

Time flowed as naturally as Kylo's forms. And after six days passed in a haze of heat madness, Rey knew with innate awareness and crystalline clarity that they had only one more night together.

* * *

Kylo wasn't sure if it was the ebbing of his rut or if he'd gotten sloppy with his shielding, but on the sixth day, after a week's silence, he became painfully aware of his master. As Rey jumped into the sonic yet again (he smiled thinking of her passion for the thing), Kylo headed to his own fresher, only to find he was not alone.

 _Kylo, my Knight of Ren,_ the whisper pushed at the back of his mind.

Choking back panic, Kylo breathed slowly through his nose. Control, he reminded himself.

 _Yes, master,_ he replied in his mind. _All is well._ _I will return soon._

 _Yes you will._ Snoke's voice burned through his mind. _There are no secrets between us. You grow stronger even now. The Light and the Dark…and the omega._

 _This woman is of no concern_. Kylo prayed his shielding would hold. In his mind, he'd built the image of the woman he'd spent the last six days with- a voluptuous Twi'lek merchant with sensitive lekku and a bawdy sense of humor. _I'll return to you tomorrow, and the plans for D'Qar can resume._

Facing the fresher's mirror, Kylo stared into his own eyes, trying to hold focus on the false version of his rut with Rey. He felt the slithering scrape of Snoke's mind sliding into his, as the Supreme Leader tasted him for the truth. The tentacles of his power danced through Kylo's brain with a finesse that terrified him; he thought he was used to Snoke's presence but after a week in the happy cloud of hormone-laden rut, he felt naked.

In the mirror, his eyes shone wetly. Kylo blinked and looked away.

Snoke withdrew, with a rasping laugh. _You've done well. I trust you will do as you are destined to do._

With his last inscrutable remark, his master was gone.

Kylo exhaled, and ran his hands through his hair. His hands shook as he turned on the sonic and scrubbed away the psychic film of Snoke's visit.

In the distance, under the dull sound of her sonic, Rey was singing. Her version of singing, anyway, which was mostly off-key mumbling of an obscene cantina song. Something about an Ewok with large genitalia, with a rather pleasant rhyme scheme, from what Kylo could tell. He wondered where she'd learned it.

She was always learning something. The way she watched him do his forms- he knew she wanted to ask, he could sense her curiosity in the thing that bound them. And though he never wanted to think about it, what an agile mind she had to have in order to defeat him in the forest that day. No one survived the desert hell of a Jakku outpost by being less than clever, and for a girl like her to do it alone- she truly was strong with the Force. He felt it now when they were a room apart. And when he was inside her, their connection to the Force together combined to create one column of power they rode until they practically died with the pleasure of it. She was like nothing he'd ever known.

The chrono on the shelf told him it was dusk; the moons were rising over Galactic City. Their last night together.

If he were wise he'd leave now. Leave while she sang and scrubbed her tan skin that he wanted to kiss all over. Leave while she had no idea what it really meant to take a Knight of Ren inside her and risk the worst.

But in the end, Kylo found himself walking nude into the other fresher, and scooping a wild-haired Rey up into his arms. In protest, she finished her cantina song sprawled on her back on the bed, as Kylo caressed her breasts.

"I'm going to miss this," Rey sighed as a pink nipple slipped between his lips. "Why-"

"Don't," Kylo warned her. "Don't say it." He wasn't sure which question she was asking, but none of them could be answered in a way that would make them happy. "This is what we have."

* * *

Kylo's dark waves of hair slid over her chest, dragging across her nipples as he worked his way downward. He was distracting her from her questioning, she knew, but the truth was, Rey didn't mind. She wasn't even sure how she was going to finish the sentence. Maybe "Why" was the entire thought, come to think of it. But none of it mattered. He was Kylo Ren of the First Order, and she was Rey of nowhere and too many things, and there was never really a place where they belonged together. She knew what they were. It was stupid to question any of it.

 _Then why does this feel so right?_ Rey wondered as he slid downward, tugging her with him until her legs were dangling off the bed. Kylo knelt on the floor and draped her legs over his broad shoulders, drawing her cunt tight to his working mouth. With her heat waning, her hypersensitivity had eased, allowing her to appreciate the thoroughness of Kylo's licking and his fingers teasing her pussy into readiness. Rey's fingers scrabbled for purchase in the bed covers, digging in as her hips rose and rocked rhythmically against Kylo's tongue. The climax rippled up her spine suddenly, with a gush of Rey's juices flooding his mouth and running down his chin. Soaked in her scent, Kylo lapped her up hungrily, slipping his hands under her ass to lock Rey to his lips. She moaned as she rode the wave of her orgasm, her thighs shaking around his cheeks.

He was wild with her after that, barely back on the bed before rolling her over and pushing Rey to her knees.

"Yes," Rey begged, arching and lifting her ass. Hiding her face in the pillow, she pushed all the other thoughts away. There was nothing but the heat now. "Fuck me, Kylo. Knot me, do it. _Everything_. Please."

She felt Kylo's hand spreading her open and teasing her clit. "Mine." His voice was thick and deep.

She shivered. "Yes, yours." _For now. We'll always have this._

His cock rammed home, burying into Rey and filling her more intensely than it ever had before. Rey gasped and swung her head around. Kylo's eyes locked onto hers and burned into Rey as his hips rocked, shaking her body with the force of every pump. His fingers sinking into the flesh of her waist, Kylo set a hard pace at once.

In the lonely heats in her home on Jakku, in the most lurid of Rey's fantasies, she never dreamed of a fucking like this. She never could have imagined this, this man, _wanting_ this- but she was getting it, and she felt like she might break from it. Yet at the same time, she felt as though she was breaking _open_ , as Kylo filled her ruthlessly and she rocked back on his cock, sinking him deeper inside her. She demanded, and he gave it, with the same flow of energy between them.

"Up," Rey pleaded, her damp hair hanging in her face as she held his eyes. Kylo swallowed, and the pumping of his hips stuttered. With a frown and in one smooth movement, he sat back on the bed, hoisting Rey onto his lap but never removing her from his cock.

"Oh that's brilliant," Rey breathed, wiggling on his lap. Her cheeks were flushed dark pink, and her eyes radiant above them. "But I need to see you." Gingerly, she lifted herself off his lap just long enough to spin around- and sink back onto Kylo's cock while facing him. "Better, much better," she decided, stroking his chest as her soaked pussy tightened around him.

"Good," Kylo groaned, his tense face nearly a grimace. He was past conversation, with his knot rising. The swollen ring at the base of his cock was thickening with every squirm of Rey on his lap. "Fuck."

Rey laughed, her face shining, and the darkness in Kylo's face relented. The corners of his mouth turned up. Rey cradled his face and leaned in to press her lips to his, as she resumed fucking him, this time with her own more melodic pace. Kylo's hands settled on her hips, gripping her with all the strength of his hands and mind both as Rey rode him for her pleasure. Their kisses grew messier as the pace grew more erratic, nearing their peak, and Rey found herself sucking on Kylo's sensitive neck. She should have panicked; instead she came, clenching down on his massive knot with waves of his cum filling her.

As she came down from the high of it, Rey became aware that Kylo's mouth was locked to her throat as well; the light press of his teeth teased her, while his tongue gently soothed the nibbled skin. Detaching him from her neck with a nudge and then a less gentle poke in the chest, Rey felt around her throat, and found to her relief the skin was unbroken.

"I'm not an idiot," Kylo grumbled. "I hate these oral prophylatics but they work." He shifted the pair of them onto their sides carefully; they were still tied together with his knot inside her, though she felt it emptying and loosening with every squeeze of her body around him.

For a minute, Rey considered disagreeing with him and throwing his idiotic life choices back in his face, but instead she gave in to her own weariness and hormones. "Maybe you are, maybe you're not," she said quietly.

Kylo groaned into the crook of her neck with every spasm of his cock, and after a few minutes, exhaled a great sigh of relief. He withdrew from Rey, finally spent, though he stopped to admire the sight of her thighs creamy with their combined liquids.

"Need another turn in the sonic," Rey observed. "Later." Facing Kylo, she slipped her arm underneath his and around his body. He drew her to his chest snugly, and let his chin come to rest in her hair. Kylo's musk was strong and delicious to her nose; she felt the urge to mate already rising again. But it was much weaker than before.

 _This really is the last night,_ she thought.

 _The night is young,_ Kylo replied.

"Stop that." She pulled her arm out from under his and lightly punched his bicep.

"You think very loudly." He caught her hand and studied the calluses on her palms.

"Nerf herder! Maybe I'll just go to sleep. Or leave now," Rey said, yanking her hand from his.

"No, you won't," Kylo said firmly.

"Are you trying to use a mind trick on me?"

"No I'm using common sense on you. Do you think a mind trick would work?" Kylo reached down to idly stroke his hardening cock. "Maybe you could use one on me. My mind isn't working very well this week."

"Oh," Rey said. "I don't care."

"Really?" Kylo asked, looking down. Rey's hand was wrapped around his cock, her thumb teasing drops of moisture from the head of it.

 _Oh stars, when did that happen?_ she wondered as Kylo drew her back into his arms.

* * *

At one point, in a fit of sick curiosity, Rey tried to count how many times they mated that night, but it all blurred together. Each time she thought it was the last, she'd find herself back in his arms- or on top of him – or beneath him – or on her side with her leg practically up on his shoulder- and crying out his name. They dimmed the lights and let exhaustion push them into sleep at one point, but soon woke up to tear into each other once more.

That was when they gave up and accepted that there would be no sleep in this madness-filled night. Rey's lips were tender and raw from the hardness of Kylo's kisses but she wanted more. Kylo's throat was scraped pink from Rey's enthusiastic nipping but every time she pulled away apologetically, he'd haul her back to him. She sucked and licked and rode him so hard that they fell off the bed and onto the floor. No matter; Rey pulled Kylo back onto her and they kept on fucking, his mouth locked onto her throat as the lightness of her mind reached out for him. He couldn't resist.

And so it went until dawn.

* * *

Everything ached, from his head to his jaw to his cock, and his head was spinning. He felt like he'd been through another battle like the one on Starkiller, only this one was much more pleasurable.

And now he was going to sneak out like a coward, while Rey slept.

Kylo glanced at the fresher. He really needed to use a sonic before getting his ride back to the ship, but he could use the one at the First Order station. No one would question Kylo Ren; they certainly hadn't on the way there.

Moving with less than his usual grace through the darkened room, Kylo somehow found the door. His clothes would be with Bix, who no doubt had checked in on them already. The Besalisk was efficient, he'd seen. All he needed was pants, and he was done here.

So why was he having such a hard time walking out the damn door?

It wouldn't be the first time, he reminded himself. The other knights always sneered at his attachments.

 _My omega_ , he thought fleetingly as she sighed in her sleep. But… _No, not mine, can't ever be mine. Even if she left the Resistance. You know that. You know what he'll do._

Kylo swung around and silently tapped the exit code for the door. His throat tingled with the echoes of her mouth, and he shuddered.

There was no life for her with him, and there was no place for him anywhere but with the Supreme Leader. Kylo Ren walked out the door and this time, there was no hesitation.

* * *

 _ **Apologies for the lengthy delays between chapters! I don't intend to let that happen again. Thanks to SoYeahSo for the beta feedback!**_


	7. Marked

He was no more than a half dozen steps down the hallway before Kylo knew something was wrong.

The dizziness that had plagued him in the darkness of the suite didn't fade as his eyes adjusted to the bright lights. His head only grew more clouded as he staggered toward the exit lobby, where his belongings would be waiting for him, Bix had promised. The aches of Kylo's body surged with every step away from the room where Rey still lay sleeping, the pain rising until he felt unable to lift his foot off the ground again.

 _Poison…?_ The alarming thought stabbed through the haze. Could his enemies have used his rut as an opportunity to take a shot at him? He wouldn't put it past Hux.

Kylo pulled up short, closing his eyes and shaking his head to clear the sticky cobwebs from his mind. The action sent a shock of pain through his neck, but he ignored it and reached deep. Using the scorching pain as he'd been trained to do, he funneled it into his power and searched his body, his very blood for any sign of a toxin. There was none. There was nothing wrong with him, as far as the Force could sense.

But something was different, he didn't know what. And the longer he lingered, the greater chance Rey would wake and-

 _And then what? Come find you?_ His own voice derided him. _It's done. She'll want to kill you if she sees you again._

Or not, which was even worse to consider.

Kylo gritted his teeth, and ran a hand through his hair, tangled and knotted from his wild last night with Rey. She loved digging her hands into his hair; he remembered that much, though most of the evening was a blur. A quick flash of her arching up into him as they rolled around on the floor came into his mind: Rey's pink nipples wet and tender from his kisses, her fingers sinking into his hair to drag him down to her, his mouth licking from her breasts up onto her throat, Rey begging, the urge rising as their minds linked, Rey whispering _yes_ -

Standing with his hand still locked in his hair, Kylo felt the fog lift; in its place he felt a new depth of despair he'd thought he couldn't surpass after killing Han Solo.

The horror dawning in his mind told him not to, but his fingers moved downward of their volition, sliding down his head and over his neck until he found what he knew would be there.

The perfect imprint of an omega's sharp teeth- the mating bite over the alpha glands in his throat. Over the wound, a layer of dried blood; considering all the scratches Rey had laid into his skin in the week of heat, he hadn't even noticed the scent of it. Not when he still smelled so thickly of her and himself. He licked his lips and for the first time recognized the coppery taste lying beneath the stale morning flavor.

No wonder his jaw ached so badly.

No wonder Rey was still sleeping.

His stomach lurched.

 _I can't- it's not- this isn't supposed to be,_ Kylo thought blankly. Looking down at his hands, he realized he was squeezing and unclenching his fists without thinking about it. Every part of him felt disconnected, numb; and yet as the information settled in his mind, it all made a horrible sense.

 _Rey. The dreams. The Force. Binding._

It couldn't work. But just the thought of running back to Rey lessened the throbbing in his throat where she'd left her mark on him.

Kylo glanced back at the suite, where she lay. Reaching out with his power, he felt Rey dreaming, something gentle and green and deep. It was even simpler now to touch her mind, and feel the rush of strength she brought with her. So natural and easy to reach out and _feel_ -

Kylo yanked himself from the warmth of her. _No_.

Standing in the hall, shaking, he lifted his foot. And then the other. And then again, until his body relented, working with the pain he knew so well until the steps carried him to the exit.

 _It doesn't matter_ , he swore _. I will never see her again._

In the distant corners of his mind, he could have sworn he heard Snoke laughing.

* * *

Even before Rey opened her eyes, she knew he was gone.

She had expected to feel nothing but relief once her heat was over, freed from the madness of her cycle and away from the man whom fate had dropped in her lap.

And there _was_ relief, she thought, shaking herself awake and sitting up in the immense bed. Her body was a catalogue of twinges and fingertip bruises in telltale positions, but she could think for the first time in ages. Groggy still but a vast improvement, she thought. It was as though the bigness of Kylo Ren filled the room so completely there was nothing else but him when he was present. The fire between them consumed even the air in the room.

Without him, the place was tranquil, orderly…

 _Dull?_ she thought.

Rey winced as she stretched her legs and massaged her sore thighs. As she bent over to inspect a scratch made by an eager hand on her inner thigh, Rey was struck by a wave of dizziness.

"Oh kriffing hell," she muttered. She grabbed hold of the bed to steady herself. The nauseating wave rolled through her brain, leaving an ache in her throat and a strange hollowness in her gut. It was like the time she'd split a bottle of emerald wine with Finn, the two of them downing glass after glass until they were falling down. The morning after that she'd lain in the fresher, holding her head and trying not to inhale the breakfast smells of the Resistance base. _Hangover,_ Poe called it laughingly as she explained her misery. This was like that, only the pain was an added layer on top of the discomfort in her belly. She had the urge to flop back onto the bed, but knew that if she did, she might not get up for another ten hours. Speaking of hours…

Rey glanced at the chrono. _Force, no wonder he left before me. I slept half the day away!_

She leaned over to the side table and activated the room com. "Bix? Can you hear me?"

"GOOD AFTERNOON!" the Besalisk rumbled through the speaker. "You awake finally, eh? Must've been a good one. What am I saying? You want your clothes? They're coming, they're coming! With food. I can see you like food."

Rey smiled in spite of herself, and then remembered the question she wanted to ask. "Bix- can I ask- what time did the alpha leave? The one that I was here with?"

"About four hours ago. In a big hurry. Why you ask? Did he leave something behind?"

She thought about it for a minute. Why had she bothered asking? "No. Never mind. Sorry. Thank you."

Rey turned off the com, swung her legs onto the floor and stood- and swore again. She remembered being stiff after previous heats but this was a new level of hurt, with her normally obedient muscles cramping up as she padded to the fresher.

 _I can't go so long between heats again,_ she admonished herself. Of course, not every alpha was Kylo Ren, strong with the Force and able to bend her in ways she wouldn't have dreamed possible. That might have something to do with it, she thought ruefully, next time aim lower. But the thought of "next time" was quickly shuttered for reasons she didn't want to examine.

The sonic shower's high pressure was like a kiss between her shoulder blades. Rey sank into the warmth of the shower, letting it cleanse her of the last night of her heat. The shower's waves worked their way up and down her back and legs, rubbing her clean, until Rey turned around to take care of her front.

It was when Rey arched her neck upward and leaned into the sonic's wave that she felt a fresh and jagged ripple of pain, tearing a cry from her mouth.

Scrambling to turn off the sonic, Rey stumbled from the shower grabbing at her throat.

Even before she found the mirror and saw it, Rey remembered. She remembered everything.

* * *

 _She falls to the floor, laughing as their bodies roll together, the weight of him pressing her down into the carpet. Heavy, delicious, thick with promise as he slides back into her without missing a beat. Her fingers sliding through his damp locks, demanding his kisses as he fucks into her, tight and hard. The slap of their skin meeting- her gasp against his mouth-the drag of her nails over his shoulders-the silence beyond it, the unspoken end that pushes desperation into their kisses._

 _She doesn't know when the playful nips on the neck become real, when the wanting becomes needing. Was it sometime in the night when each 'last time' wasn't enough? Did it start when she kissed the scar cutting across his face, tracing the lightning down his shoulder, never insulting him with a false apology? Was it when he went on his knees for her in the Scenting Room? Did it begin the first time she ever dreamed of him? It doesn't matter, but she wonders anyway as she wraps her arms around him, the Force drawing him in fast. She finds his sensitive throat beneath her teeth, her tongue teasing the swollen ridge of the alpha gland beneath._

 _Do it. I'm yours, he murmurs, and shudders into her._

 _The words are familiar. His hips stutter only for a moment when her strong teeth sink in. She can feel Kylo's heart pounding as she licks the wound and reaches out for him with her mind._

 _It's the simplest thing in the world to let him inside. And to tilt her neck to the side and draw his mouth down to her. She feels the barrier on his teeth, and he nods. It takes the merest push of the Force to shred the prophylactic layer._

 _She nearly comes when his teeth sink into her, claiming her in return._

 _Yes, yes, Rey hears. She isn't sure who it is. Their connected minds have become one as his hips snap into hers, pushing her higher. More, she pleads without speaking, touch me, and he sees and knows, now more than ever. The flats of his fingers slide across her clit and Rey pumps herself against his hand, feeling the crest coming. He feels it too, expanding inside her, mind and body._

 _She comes clenched around his knot, his mouth_ _locked onto her throat, and a light shimmering behind her eyes._

 _The last thing she remembers before falling asleep is stroking the marks on Kylo's throat and understanding there would be consequences...and then, in the madness of heat, not caring at all._

* * *

Rey never had friends before the Resistance. She couldn't afford to have friends on Jakku, where the souls in Niima Outpost had to fight for every tiny scrap of food. Around Niima, friend meant someone who would more than likely steal your food or your best scavenging site if you relaxed around them. It wasn't smart to have friends, unless you planned on suckering them first.

But now? Finn, Jess, Poe, Chewie, Snap, even the general in her own way. The pilots who waved at her in passing on the way to the mess hall, the medics who sighed and laughed every time Rey returned scraped up, the techs who talked repairs with her over ale after their shifts every day. They were her friends, and it was marvelous. She liked having friends.

As Rey studied the healing bite in her throat, deep over her omega gland, she wondered if she would lose them all.

She touched the mark tentatively. It could've been worse, considering how reckless they'd been.

It could be worse. It could be worse, she kept telling herself.

 _How? How, Rey? How could it be worse? How long can you hide this? The bite is irreversible. Someone will figure it out sooner or later. Finn will know. After what Kylo did to him-_ In the mirror, Rey's brow furrowed. _And Poe, I wouldn't blame them for never speaking to me again,_ _And the general, oh my god, the general. Her son, I mated with her son!_

Her growing panic was broken by the door chime, notifying her of the cleaning droid's wish to enter.

The droid had more than fresh sheets as it turned out- it also carried Rey's clothes and bag, a tray loaded with food (her stomach shocked her by rumbling at the sight of it), and her final checkout information.

"Do you have any bandages by any chance?" Rey asked.

"Are you injured? Our med droid can assist-"

"No, I'm fine! Just a scrape, I'd rather tend to it myself." Rey didn't want anyone to know about it just yet. She dressed while the droid darted off to fetch the items.

The droid returned a few moments later with a selection of quick-healing adhesive bandages. Rey sighed in relief and quickly covered the wound. The bandages were large enough to cover the bite for the time being. If Jess asked, she could always claim she'd been bitten by a hawk-bat. Or a Wookiee. Either would be more believable than the truth.

The truth was that in a galaxy full of possibilities, somehow she had tied her life to that of her enemy. The nightmare of the Resistance, the man who once upon a time had terrified her, the master of the Knights of Ren.

And yet, standing in the room they'd shared for a week, she missed him.

She hated herself a bit for wondering if she would see him in her dreams that night.


	8. Consequences

_This chapter gets a bit dark, so I want to put up a Trigger Warning here for violence toward spouses, involving supporting characters._

 _Thanks for sticking with the story- I hope you enjoy this chapter!_

* * *

The dizziness passed by the time Kylo arrived back at the First Order station house, but the aching of his jaw and throat lingered. Studying his undressed self in the fresher after his shower, he couldn't stop tracing the impressions her teeth left on his throat. It was no mild graze- Rey had sunk her teeth in hard, her claim unmistakable. The new mark was on the left side of his neck, the opposite side of her previous brand on him- the slashing scar left by her lightsaber. Now both sides were equal.

 _Balance,_ he thought.

He should've been panicking over their bonding, but facing her bite, all Kylo could feel was a deep sense of satisfaction. The _rightness_ of it. And a perverse pleasure knowing that Rey had a bonding scar to match, his claim on her impossible to miss by any alpha she encountered. Wherever she went, something of him went with her.

He wondered how she would explain the mark to her Resistance friends. He'd love to be there to witness the explosion among the band of traitors. Perhaps the rebels were more forgiving than his own people would be.

This was never supposed to happen. Not to any of the knights but especially him. Kylo had realized as he grew older that, despite Snoke's hints about the pleasures of abandoning the Jedi's rules, his master's philosophy wasn't much different than Luke and the old Council's ways, in the end. Neither side accepted the weaknesses of attachment and affection to exist. But he could appreciate Snoke's acknowledgment of the sacrifice, and what it meant. With the Jedi, all he found was hypocrisy and a meandering dogma that provided few answers. At least on his chosen path, he wasn't forced into a life without touch.

The hormonal teenager he'd been was never able to accept the celibate life demanded by the Jedi, with their immovable rules for attachment. Luke lectured him endlessly on separating himself from his alpha urges to achieve self-control. He didn't know how his uncle achieved that kind of peace and acceptance; Luke's educational diet of meditation, forms and corny jokes offered few satisfactory answers. After years of study at the temple, Ben was still tormented by his desires to the point of distraction. At night, his fantasies were filled with soft omegas hungry for his knot; sweet-eyed women who moaned for him when he took them roughly on their knees; a woman to hold him tight, be his, and never leave him. In the depth of his mind, the carnal possibilities were legion…but not as a Jedi.

If he'd remained with his uncle, if Luke had never raised a lightsaber over him, if he'd stayed the course and become a Jedi, he'd never have been able to take Rey, and make her his mate.

Touching her bite on his neck, that alternative was unthinkable.

 _Good…it is done._

A voice not his own slithered into Kylo's brain. He winced, feeling the telltale scrape of his master's mind over his.

He straightened up and grabbed his clothes, donning them quickly.

 _Yes, my rut is completed. I'm returning to the Supremacy soon. I should be back within two days. The move on D'Qar can go forward as soon as I return, master._

Snoke laughed, with the edge of scorn Kylo knew so well. A shiver rolled up his back; Snoke's mirth rarely led to anything positive.

His master's deep rasp came again.

 _And the scavenger? Will she be joining us?_

Kylo froze.

 _There are no secrets between us. As I told you before. Bring your mate to me._

Snoke's cold laughter cut through the Force, and then Kylo felt his oppressive presence withdraw. He was left alone in the refresher, staring at himself again, and feeling the galaxy fall apart. Or maybe it was just him. A fresh wash of dizziness rolled through him.

How could he be so stupid, to think he could hide a week spent in her arms. The Supreme Leader's words came back to him, and with the revelation of Snoke's awareness, they took on a new shade. He'd known. He'd known the mating would happen even before Kylo left, what would happen.

 _The Dark Side and the Light uniting… you will be made stronger for it. A woman..._

 _A sacrifice must be made._

 _I trust you will do as you are destined to do._

Prophecies through the Force were an unpredictable lot, he'd seen. But in all the years Kylo served his master, Snoke had never been wrong.

The destiny of every knight of Ren was clear. It was a rite of passage, their way of conquering and taming the alpha within.

And now it was his turn. After avoiding the inevitable for so long, Kylo had fallen into the trap, and taken Rey with him.

The mirror in front of Kylo shattered before he realized what he was doing. His fists flew, pummeling the reflection, and he didn't stop until nothing remained on the wall but bloody shards.

* * *

He wasn't lying about them not being the first, Rey discovered quickly. Jedi and Force users from the dark side had been coming together for millennia. The information was scattered across the HoloNet and hiding in data-tapes she'd found while researching. Kylo may have done terrible things, but so far, it seemed deception wasn't one of them.

On the second day of their journey back to D'Qar, Rey dove into the reading material while Jess piloted. She spent an hour digging up everything she could find on an alpha/omega pairing named Bastila and Revan. It wasn't much in the way of info, but just knowing a Jedi omega had fallen in love with and bonded to an alpha from the dark side quieted the fear that lurked in her mind since she left Coruscant. It helped for a while, anyway. Having something useful to do was the only thing keeping Rey from tugging at the bandage hidden under the high collar of her vest. The wound was healing exceptionally fast, but she was plagued with the desire to touch the mark, to feel the soft ridges of the forming scar. When she slid her hand over the bandage, Rey could almost feel him, the dark crackling energy of Kylo that she recognized from her dreams.

"Are you sure you're alright?" Jess asked. "You don't seem…I don't know."

"Yes, I'm fine. Just tired." She flashed a weary smile at her friend. "It was a long week."

"Gotcha. So everything went well with your alpha? You were pretty happy when I called."

Rey looked down at the datapad in her hands. "Yes, I was." A vision of Kylo thrusting into her while she spoke on the comlink to Jess flashed through her brain. The glow in his eyes as she studied his face. His mouth on hers, the connection between them blazing with fiery light. "I was happy."

A lumped formed in her throat, a resigned ache- and just behind it, a surge of anger. _Damn him_. _Why is this happening? Why did I let it happen?_ Her neck throbbed, just thinking about it. Him. Dropping the datapad onto the table, Rey looked up. "Tell me about your visit, Jess. Did you have fun?"

Jess fiddled with a lever, and then sat back, stretching her arms over her head. "God, yeah. You should've seen her. Beautiful, from Gatalenta apparently. Dark brown skin, hair down to her waist, nice muscles. She carried me over the threshold of the suite- can you believe it? I just about died. So sexy."

Rey laughed. "She sounds amazing." She paused as something popped into her head. "Are you ever going to see her again?"

"No, no. That's not how it goes in houses of heat. Shena was great, but it was just healthy sex." Jess turned and glanced back at Rey. "You're not getting sentimental over yours, are you? I mean it was your first, so I can understand it…but-"

"No!" Rey said, rubbing her thumb over the bandage. "Definitely not. Heat's over…it's over."

Except it couldn't be over now. It would never be over, with Kylo Ren in her blood.

"Okay, good. You know, I'm really glad we went together." Jess stood up. "This was fun. I mean not the sweating-in-agony part before we got there. But it's nice to have another omega my age around." Jess leaned over impulsively and hugged Rey. "Maybe next year we can do this again!"

"Oh…thanks. Maybe," Rey mumbled. It was still awkward for her, accepting the comfortable affection among friends in the Resistance. And as for next year…what was she going to do when her next heat came around, and her body's fire couldn't be cooled by anyone but her mate? She'd been so caught up in the complexity of being connected to Kylo that she didn't even think about the basic, practical consequences of their bonding. Dammit, how much of her life would be changed by this?

"Huh," Jess said, stepping back from the hug. "That's strange."

"What?"

"I'm sorry if this is weird, or invasive, or something. But your scent has changed? Have you noticed? Because now I'm wondering if mine changed after I started sharing heats with people and maybe I never noticed because people can't smell themselves well…" Jess rambled, and hopped back into the pilot's seat. "Anyway, no big deal, right?"

"Right," Rey said, picking up the datapad. She turned to hide her shaking hands from Jess. "No big deal."

* * *

The First Order captain who ferried Kylo back to the Supremacy kept casting sidelong glances at the healing cuts all over his hands. He could feel the woman's curiosity over the couple days he spent on her ship, with the captain hovering over her important passenger, simpering and offering to send the med droid to his cabin again. After the third time, Kylo threw out a hand to close her throat before she finished the sentence.

"Tend to your own business on the ship, captain."

His grip on her airway relaxed, and the woman fell to the floor, gasping, before she scampered out of the room.

He knew it might be an overreaction, but every officer in the order was prone to snitching, passing along weaknesses and accumulating info to tuck away strategically. Snoke encouraged the suspicion and infighting; he'd told Kylo that it kept all the officers on their toes, and kept the lower ranks from forming a cohesive unit that could unite against them.

Kylo wasn't going to give them an opportunity to learn more about him. He'd had enough weaknesses exposed that week.

But truthfully, his hands barely hurt after treating them with bacta. With the little pain that remained, he used it to center him and shore up his shields, as the minute cuts sealed and faded. With the added strength, he hoped he'd find a way to deal with the situation. With her.

So far though, he didn't see a way out that ended well for them. It never did, for a Knight of Ren and any omega who bonded to one. Snoke wouldn't allow it. It was one of the first principles the master had laid down for the Seven.

Kylo couldn't remember how many mates Ferassmo has had; it was too many to count. The handsome Arkanian attracted omegas easily. He remembered the first one Ferassmo ever brought before Snoke, presenting her proudly. He'd found her on Chandrila, in a small fishing village. She was beautiful, a petite purple-eyed blonde with all the curves and charm an alpha could ever ask for.

With a word from Snoke, Ferassmo cut her down, his lightsaber burning a hole through her heart.

Sazina Ren has had three bonded mates in the six years he's known her. The first time she slew one, her hand shook, and her normally steely eyes shone, as though she was holding back tears. By the time she tossed her third mate's body to the floor, there were no tears left in Sazina. Snoke applauded her proudly that day, while Kylo excused himself. He made it to his quarters before vomiting.

He wasn't there when cold Chrywumppa Ren made his offering. The man was always silent now but Kylo remembered how he used to speak in the days before, his Teevan lilt throwing out sarcastic remarks in their meetings. The omega's death chipped away something from Chrywumppa that he never got back.

Upon learning Ejoimo had bonded with someone and would be presenting him, Kylo arranged a convenient visit to Mustafar. When he returned, Snoke's punishment for his cowardice was terrible, the lightning scorching Kylo until he prayed for death.

Dirrivon and Keren had avoided the trap of mating so far- he wasn't quite sure how. The lure was irresistible for them all, as alphas. But the two youngest knights were as resolute as Kylo. He remembered how Keren's face paled under her freckles when Ferassmo delivered his last bride. In the Force, he had felt Dirrivon's disgust, and the barely suppressed desire to run. It was no surprise to him when Dirrivon volunteered for the Outer Rim assignment, taking him far away for nearly a year.

Kylo had resisted bonding to anyone all this time, knowing how it would end. Plus, he'd found avoiding contact with people on a personal level helped control the conflict that still burned within him. Life was simpler, avoiding love and sticking to houses of heat for a brief period each year. Mindless pleasure, freedom from the claws of his master, and the safety of knowing it would go no further than the walls of the heat house. It worked.

That is, it worked until Rey.

Rey who sliced through every shield he ever built, who carved her marks into him and left his head spinning with every encounter. From the first moment she invaded his dreams, he'd known she could be his downfall.

She was somewhere out there in the galaxy, fierce and free. His mate, his omega, the woman who was everything he dreamed of since he was old enough to understand what he was.

Rey was out there, and Kylo prayed to the Force with everything in him that he would never see her again.


	9. The Force

**Beginning in this chapter, you'll see more references to _The Last Jedi_ parallels, so I'm assuming you've all seen the movie!**

* * *

 _The sweltering heat of high noon and the irritation of gritty sand under her nails feel so real that at first, Rey wonders if she really has been transported back to Jakku somehow._

 _She's hunkered down in her AT-AT, sweat dripping down her temples as she perches on her scrap durasteel stool. She can feel the wetness pooling in the hollows of her throat, over the thrum of her pulse. A good exhaustion settles into her muscles, the results of a satisfying morning spent scaling the walls of a wreck loaded with worthwhile haul. The portions on the table prove the risk was worth it; and now she rests, and digests the veg-meat and polystarch bread she's downed too quickly. The food sits like a rock in her belly (some part of her knows she's tasted better, real food since then), but the water tastes so good, cool and clean._

 _Rey sits back and tugs on her arm wraps, starting with the left. She frowns- they're stubborn today, knotted and unmoving. She's so focused on them she's barely aware of the energy changing, the air in her little house being swallowed up by the electricity of another body. But then there's a large hand on her wrist, locked tight around her, and she knows, knows he's returned to her._

 _"Let me help you." He kneels before her. With his height, they're still almost eye-to-eye. His hands glide up her arm and find the source of the wrap, his long fingers sliding under the cloth to dig into the soft skin over her bicep. He pulls out the end piece roughly, exposing the deep groove the wrap has left in her flesh. His thumb smoothes over it, rubbing the angry red mark until it relaxes into a mellow pinkish memory._

 _She knows it's a dream for sure then; when did Kylo Ren ever do anything on Jakku but bring death and destruction? But Rey kicks away the awareness, and sinks into his touch with a low groan._

 _He looks up then, his eyes luminous on hers. His hands unwind the wrap, freeing her arm entirely, letting the blood flow and stopping to massage the deepest grooves along the way. His gaze doesn't pull away from hers, using her catches of breath and her moans as a guide of where to apply more pressure._

 _When he reaches her wrist, he doesn't stop; he simply sets Rey's hand down and reaches for the other, seeking out the source of her right arm wrap. And then it begins all over again._

 _Rey is boneless by the time both arms are freed and massaged down to the wrist. The iron strength in Kylo's arms has never been better put to use, she thinks fleetingly. The warmth he's infused into the muscles of her arms flows into the rest of her body and makes her light-headed._

 _"It is you," she sighs, bending forward to cup his face. "Isn't it?"_

 _"Just a dream, you know that," he says._

 _"Really?" Rey's hands slide down to rest around his neck; her mouth hovers over his lips. "Then it won't matter if you kiss me."_

 _"Maybe." Kylo's voice is ragged as his breath mingles with hers._

 _Under her fingers, on his throat, Rey feels something- a thick ridge of tissue, a keloid crescent moon._

 _A mating bite, cleanly marked on Kylo's throat, a twin on his own left on her neck._

 _Rey smiles and feels a sickening shard of terror all at once. She caresses his new scar._

 _Knocking her hands aside, Kylo's eyes go wild and he jumps back._

 _"I can't be here," he shouts, his voice heavy with too many things for her to name. Before she understands what's happening, Kylo scrunches up his face, grabs the rusted knife off her work table- and stabs it deep into his palm._

 _Rey screams but there is no blood; the man is gone before a wound opens._

* * *

"That will be enough for today, don't you think?" Snoke laughed.

Kylo coughed and spit blood onto the floor of the throne room, where he lay. "Yes, master. I will not fail you next time."

"No, no you won't. In time, you will bring her to me." Snoke sat back and waved a hand. "You're dismissed. All of you."

Behind him, Kylo heard the other knights shuffling out. As he stood, he heard a soft giggle from Sazina Ren, pointedly aimed in his direction. Though it pained him to turn his neck, he shot her a glare before the woman departed. The Zeltron knight fiercely resented his standing with the Supreme Leader and never missed an opportunity to take a shot at him. One day, there would be a final reckoning between them, he knew, and the sparring between he and Sazina wouldn't end with just a few bruises.

But not today. Today, he'd be lucky if he could walk to his quarters.

It took all his strength and pride to keep Kylo upright and marching forcefully back to his room. He passed Dirrivon and Keren speaking quietly in the corridor, and ignored their wide-eyed looks. He could feel their surprise, how they'd expected him to linger in the throne room longer before being able to walk again. They would've needed to, after such a prolonged punishment from Snoke. But then he'd always been much stronger than those two, since Luke's temple. Dirrivon relied too much on his bulk for brute effect, while Keren manipulated her way out of most trouble when the Force failed her. They were still among the best of Luke's students though- that was why he'd taken them with him that night. The other ones who'd accompanied them had fallen over the years, not tough enough to withstand Snoke's teaching or not able to accept the Dark within themselves. Sometimes Kylo envied them for being free of all this.

He turned his thoughts back to his injuries- they weren't the worst he'd had, but the sooner he summoned a med droid, the better. There would be no scarring this time, but he could sense internal bleeding from the three ribs Snoke had crushed.

All things considered, it was worth it. Despite the hour of torment and careful probing from his master, he was almost positive Snoke didn't know that every night since he'd returned from the house of heat, despite Kylo's attempts to cut her off, he'd dreamed of his mate. He didn't understand much about the changed nature of his connection with Rey, with the added factor of their mating, but he suspected. If Snoke had known, he would have used it to torture him further, to flay him to the core. He was sure of it.

Kylo laid down on his narrow bed, and groaned. The med droid beeped and whirred as it set to repairing the worst of the damage. While it worked, Kylo sank into a meditative state to push away the agony; in time, the meditation gave way to sleep, and he sank into a dream of warm sand and hands to massage away his pain.

* * *

It wasn't until Jess mentioned her post-heat visit to the doctor, while the women sat having drinks with their friends, that Rey realized she should make an appointment. Apparently it was considered standard in the Republic and therefore among the Resistance members. Another thing she'd missed out on, living way out on Jakku.

"Are you still tired?" Jess asked her, when Finn and Poe went to grab a refill of their beers. "You look it."

"Gee thanks," Rey laughed.

"Sorry," Jess grinned. "But ya know. Ya do." She took a swig of her ale.

"I'm fine. I've just had a hard time sleeping this week. Lots of work." Truthfully there _was_ a lot of work to be done, but she was used to it. Rey's problem was the interrupted sleep, and the dreams that instead of abating after heat had gotten twice as bad.

 _Well, not bad,_ she thought. _Good…really really good._

If she'd thought the erotic dreams about Kylo Ren were troubling before her heat, it was worse now that she'd seen another side of him. Now that she wore his bite on his neck, and craved his touch in waking hours. The dreams now were as intensely charged as before, only they were confusing and conflicted with the man yanking himself away from her sometimes to disappear, leaving Rey a wet, frustrated mess. Too many nights she'd found herself awake early in the cycle, having to finish herself off before she was able to fall back asleep. It happened often enough she was developing perpetual dark circles under her eyes.

And then there was the pain. It happened twice in the past week. She'd be settling into bed, and then she'd feel shattering levels of pain rippling through her for a moment, and she knew instinctively it didn't belong to her. She was glad Luke was away with Leia on a mission to Naboo for the next four days, to hunt for new allies- she was too tempted to ask the older Jedi about it. She sensed such a weight of guilt and sadness over his nephew, underneath Luke's odd gleams of humor. Would he understand her ambivalence over Kylo Ren? She wasn't sure what she would say to Luke or the general when they returned to D'Qar.

She didn't want to give a damn about Kylo's suffering. She _shouldn't._ But she felt his soul-shredding levels of agony and couldn't wish that on anyone. What was happening to him?

She couldn't wish it on anyone but especially on her bonded mate, the person who, in a twisted way she'd never admit in the light of day, was more like her than anyone she'd ever encountered.

Beginning to accept her predicament was the first step, she knew.

The problem was, she had no idea what the next step should be.

"Yer overworking yourself. The tech crews can live without you for a day," Jess said, slightly slurred. "And you might still be tapped out from heat. What did Doctor Tanja say at your post appointment?"

"My post appointment?"

Jess's eyebrows shot up. "You didn't have a post appointment."

"No. I…don't know what that is. Should I?"

"Oh, Force. I'm starting to feel like a sexual education professor." Jess laughed, taking another sip. "Yeah, after your heat is complete, you have a check-up every year. It's standard and _vital_ for your repro health." She wagged a finger at her friend.

"I didn't know that." Rey's cheeks pinked. She chugged down her beer.

"Do you have any other sex questions while I'm getting drunk?"

"Maybe a few." Rey nodded and drank more for courage. The appointment would happen, but she really was curious about a few things. She could certainly ask those questions without naming names.

"So…this is probably theoretical…Would you say nine inches is about average for an alpha?"

"Kriffing hell, Rey!"

* * *

When it came to her general health, Doctor Tanja was as smoothly reassuring to Rey two days later as she had been at her pre-heat appointment. Until she wasn't.

"Your reproductive system is in fantastic shape, pregnancy tests are all negative, and you're negative for STIs."

"Great! That's wonderful," Rey said, sitting up on the examination table.

"Yes it is," Doctor Tanja agreed. "But we should discuss the bonding bite on your neck and the high levels of bonding hormone in your bloodstream."

Rey's jaw dropped.

"Did you think I wouldn't notice the scar you're trying to hide, or the change in the standard blood tests…or did you not know?" The woman tilted her head to the side. "Because if you didn't consent to this, that's a crime."

"NO!" Rey said. "I mean, I did consent. It was- shit, sorry. I don't know what to say. " She breathed in deeply. "It's not a crime."

"Okay," the doctor said, stepping in closer to pat Rey on the shoulder. "It's alright. Bonding can be traumatic in a way even when it's wanted. It's a huge life-changing adjustment and the body is in hormonal flux."

"Thank you," Rey said. To her mortification, she felt tears welling up.

The doctor handed her a tissue, and waited patiently while Rey wiped away her tears and blew her nose.

"Sorry for being like this. I just haven't know what's going to happen next."

"Do you want to tell me who your alpha is?" Doctor Tanja asked delicately.

"No. Definitely not." Rey straightened up. "Please don't tell anyone."

"Of course, I won't. This is confidential, like all your medical care." She paused and gathered her thoughts. "I have to admit, I have very little knowledge about how the bond might affect someone like you."

"Like me?"

"A Force-user, especially one as powerful as people say you are. Order 66 wiped out virtually all of the Jedi, and of course they rarely bonded even when they were present in the galaxy, due to their foolish rules, so there's not a ton of information to go on, and no practical experience for doctors now."

"Does that stuff matter, when it comes to this?" Rey's thoughts wandered to the bonded Force users she'd researched on the shuttle. She wished she kept on researching instead of getting caught up in her work on the station.

"Well as a rule, the bond pulls couples closer together, to the point where they can sometimes sense each other's emotions. But Force-users can already do that. So the effect is likely magnified quite a bit when one of the partners is a Force-user such as yourself."

"Or both," Rey whispered.

The doctor's eyebrows rose.

"I mean if he turned out to be. I don't know him very well." She looked down.

Doctor Tanja looked unconvinced but carried on. "Of course the alpha and omega relationship is usually deeply sexual, and with the increased mental link, connecting minds- well, you see where I'm going with this. The power you have will affect every aspect of your bonding. I imagine you'll be discovering how for years to come. Hopefully with your partner in an enjoyable way."

"Everything has changed," Rey said quietly.

"Yes," the doctor agreed. "But you consented and chose your alpha, you said? It seems like you found a compatible alpha and accepted him willingly. Give yourself time to get used to the change in your life, but trust yourself in your instinct. And in the end, you are still you, though you are part of this bond. That's my best advice to the newly bonded."

"It's complicated." Rey hopped off the exam bed.

"It always is, dear." The doctor smiled. "But good luck- and for what it's worth, congratulations."

* * *

Rey struggled to break it all down as she rushed from the clinic.

 _Trust yourself…_

Could she, though? She'd chosen him from the beginning of her heat, knowing full well who and what he was. She'd bitten and let herself be bitten, accepting Kylo Ren into her bloodstream for life. She could attempt to pin it on the heat but ultimately she couldn't deny the uncanny undefinable thing that had always existed between her and her counterpart in the First Order.

Counterpart, her perfect complement, as though everything about him existed to balance her out. And when they meshed together, their bodies, their lips moving together, whether in dreams or in reality, the Force was in sync. Everything around her hummed peaceably and the restless fire in her belly quieted. The edge of darkness in her that she feared was never quieter than when she was in his arms.

What brought the two of them to the same house of heat on Coruscant in the first place? He swore he hadn't arranged it and it had the ring of truth. Was it the will of the Force, trying to tell them something? And she was being too damn stubborn to listen? What is the point in mating her to a warrior of the enemy who would likely kill everything she loved someday if she and Luke didn't find a way to stop it? None of it made any sense.

Nothing made sense, and nothing felt right except the clarity she felt every time she was with Kylo.

She had to sort it out, make it work somehow. Rey was resolved. As she opened the door to her cabin, she swore to herself, _The Force will lead us, we will find a way._

And that's when it happened.

Stepping into her room, with the door closing behind her, Rey felt a shimmering electric energy humming in her body. One she associated with dark nights on the sands, starry skies and a tall body wrapped around hers. Only this time, she wasn't sleeping and neither was he- she felt his consciousness punching through the shimmer. As she stood there, Rey felt the Force crack open and the connection flowing freely between them, the power of it leaving her breathless. He wasn't trying to hide from her anymore.

Her breath catching, Rey spun around to find Kylo Ren sitting in her bedroom.

Her eyes bugged out in shock. It was him, actually him, sitting there on the edge of her bed with his arm stretched out in the air as though it was resting on something. He was dressed in black head-to-toe and wearing gloves, with his left hand curled around something she couldn't see. He looked so _real_ , her heart ached.

His eyes met hers, just as startled as Rey knew she must look.

"I didn't think it would work," he said numbly. "I tried to call, to reach out…What is this? I can see you…but just you. Nothing else. Can you see my surroundings?"

"No," Rey said. "Where are you?"

"I'm in my TIE fighter. Rey-"

"How is this happening? And why are you avoiding me? We probably need to talk." Rey swallowed. "Kylo, I know it's-"

"Rey, _stop_. We don't have time for this. You need to leave now."

"What are you talking about?" Rey frowned. "You're in my bedroom!"

"No, you need to leave D'Qar now. Get out." Kylo's eyes darted around, tracking things she couldn't see. "The First Order is on its way. We'll be there to destroy the Resistance base within two hours."


	10. D'Qar

_**Thank you to everyone for all the lovely reviews so far! I appreciate it so much, more than you know! And thanks to Emcee for betaing this chapter.**_

 **Trigger warning for this chapter: Suicidal Thoughts**

* * *

She'd thought she would have a harder time convincing the Resistance to heed her without any proof since she couldn't very well explain her ghostly visit from Kylo Ren, but as it turned out, it was barely necessary. The base's command center was a fury of activity by the time Rey burst through the doors to warn them of the attack.

"Our sensors picked up on the dreadnought five minutes ago," Admiral Statura explained grimly, staring at the monitors. A cluster of tense officers surrounded the admiral, Poe and Jess among them. "General Organa and the Jedi have been apprised of the situation but there's no way they'll make it back from Naboo in time to be of any assistance."

Rey jumped in. "It's not just the ship- it's Kylo Ren. I- I can feel it, I know he's coming. We need to leave now. We have less than two hours."

"Are you sure? If it's Kylo Ren, then maybe we shouldn't leave," Poe replied, his face darkening. "This could be an opportunity, admiral. Stand and fight while we're on territory we know. Let them come down…stormtroopers aren't so hot on this terrain and we know the airspace better. Divide their efforts, take Ren out, and cripple the leadership of the First Order. And maybe the dreadnought too." Poe's eyes met hers. "You beat him once, Rey, you could do it again."

Her heart squeezed in her chest. Rey opened her mouth to protest, not even sure what she was going to say, but Admiral Statura raised a hand silencing the growing murmur.

"It's tempting…but there's no time to formulate a plan for that degree of tactical ground strike and even if we succeeded, the casualties would be catastrophic. I've already decided. The cruisers are being fueled. Begin the evacuation- _now._ "

* * *

The frenzied emptying-out of the base was accomplished at a dizzying pace, and Rey was grateful for the assignment of helping ferry the Resistance members to their places on the cruisers. As long as her hands were busy carting ration-packs and steering wayward stragglers, nothing else mattered. _Two hours_ , she thought. A hundred questions tugged at the corners of her mind, but the emergency demanded her attention. Rey summoned every ounce of focus she'd learned and drew a mental blanket over the whispers and worries and the dark eyes that had delivered the message.

Two hours. It was enough because it had to be. The cruisers were loaded and ready.

"The Falcon's ready when you are, Rey." Finn stuck his head out of the doorway and waved. "Are you sure you can fly this without the Wookiee?"

Rey glared at Finn, and flashed a hand gesture at her friend, before smiling.

"I'm so glad Jess is here to teach you those things," Finn said, his eyes lighting up briefly. Then his smile fell away, as they saw a half-dozen pilots walk into the hangar clad in flight suits. They were ready to protect the fleet- this was cutting it too close and they all knew it. "We're gonna make it."

Tugging his suit into place, Poe spotted them and waved, his smile as sunny as ever. Finn raised a hand high, his eyes never leaving the pilot. "They are _going_ to make it." Poe climbed into his X-Wing, and disappeared from sight.

"Force, I hope so. He's the best there is, Finn. We'll see him soon. I know it in my heart," she said gently. "You won't lose him. I do wish Chewie were-" The roar of an engine ate Rey's last words, as another cruiser took off in the distance. Finn nodded with understanding.

They had to make it, all of them. Finn and Jess and Poe and the techs who told her dirty jokes. And Doctor Tanja and Kaydel and that pilot whose name Rey never got but always heard singing Bith opera in the corridors. What was her name? Why had she never asked her name? Now she might never know. They all had to live.

Only, time was up. Rey knew it as surely as she knew anything. She felt it in the deepest core of her body, in the aching scar on her neck, and in the tendrils of her mind connected to the Force, her inescapable awareness of him. Somewhere above the skies of D'Qar, her mate was circling her and he wasn't alone.

* * *

The scar on Kylo's throat began to hum with a dark warmth as soon as his TIE Silencer crossed into the Ileenium system, with his knights trailing behind.

"Why so silent today, master?" taunted Ferassmo Ren over the comm. The link connected all seven of the knights; Kylo inwardly cursed the thing and considered shutting it down, oncoming battle be damned. But knowing Ferassmo, he might use the opportunity to take a shot at Kylo and usurp him. The Arkanian never could stand bowing to an alpha so much younger than him.

"Formation twelve," Kylo said. The knights instinctively shifted their TIE fighters to flank Kylo in an elongated vee. Even Ferassmo fell back, his barb forgotten. The knight might love to pick at him, but he loved slaughter most of all.

 _And there'll be plenty of that today_ , Kylo thought, his stomach tightening as D'Qar came into view. Why did he wait so long to make a decision? It was too late. It was always too late, or the wrong choice, wasn't it.

The lush colors of D'Qar filled his eyes, and he found himself wondering what his desert scavenger thought of a jungle planet. The extravagant greenery reminded him of Endor. Was she terrified by D'Qar's wild growth or enchanted by the uncontrollable forests, choked with life? Did she ever explore the jungles, discover insects crawling under logs, and grab at slippery fish working their way upstream?

 _She would,_ he thought, his mind filling with the vision of Rey digging in the dirt and smiling triumphantly when she discovered an unfamiliar worm. _She would love that._

His throat tingled, and he felt a tugging, pulling him downward. His instincts in the Force told him to take his ship lower. It's where he belonged, his gut screamed at him.

His thumb eased up the lever and tipped the Silencer back into a holding pattern.

"Master, the dreadnought is almost in position." Ejoimo's cool voice notified Kylo promptly of what he could see with his own eyes. "Their cruisers are launching but we should be able to catch up most of them."

 _Good…very good…Destroy them all._

The rumbling hiss drawled through Kylo's mind. From the quickly drawn breath coming through Ejoimo's comm, they heard it as well.

Snoke. He was never far. Had he ever had a choice?

"Setting an intercept course," Kylo said as he punched the buttons. "The dreadnought can take care of the base and then finish off what's left of the Resistance- if there's anything left when we're done."

* * *

Safely aboard the Falcon and on her way, Rey watched in horror as the dreadnought's guns opened fire on D'Qar, and the sturdy base that had served as her home. She'd only stayed there a few months, but it was the first place she ever felt safe and welcomed, with a network of people she could count on. Her eyes welled up as the surface of the verdant planet exploded with fire, until she couldn't see any more green as the Falcon flew out of the atmosphere and into space.

The darkness sprawling before them was no more reassuring.

The Resistance's X-Wing pilots were taking on the dreadnought but without the bombers ready, the small rebel fleet was functioning at best as a diversion to draw away some of the First Order's fire.

Seven sleek TIE fighters dove and wound their way around the Resistance cruisers, stabbing at the ships' defenses with surgical strikes.

"The cruisers- shit, Rey, they know, they're going after them!" Finn shouted and jumped up from the co-pilot's seat. "I'm manning the guns! You got this?"

"I got it!" Rey yelled. Finn ran toward the gun well and slid into place.

Rey closed her eyes for a few seconds, and drew in a long breath, letting it flow through her. Beyond the pumping adrenaline and the pounding of her heart, she felt it, the ever-present pulse of the Force.

Finn was doing what he did best, and so was she.

With steady hands, she took hold of the controls, and set a course directly for the TIEs. The one in the front- now that she looked closer, the black starfighter was different from the others, with ferociously pointed wings and a blood-red eye.

"You," Rey murmured, sliding her hand to press the button. "Coming for you."

* * *

In one of his more philosophical moments, when he was still winning him gently, Snoke once told Kylo that nostalgia was nothing but a longing for something that he had never had.

Faced with his father's ship, the words came to his mind anew. He wasn't sure he'd ever be able to see the Millennium Falcon without feeling the sickening weight of it- anger and simmering resentment, but most infuriatingly, the need.

Once upon a time, before his parents shuttled him off to Luke's temple, the battered old freighter had been a second home to him. He knew every strange quirk of the ship and every secret hidey hole for storing treasures. Well, they'd been treasures to him- a rusted coin from Tatooine, a scrap of striped fabric that had once been Corellian blood stripes, a white ribbon that fell from his mother's hair when she was cooking in the tiny galley, the fuzzy leg of a stuffed Wookiee he wouldn't let them throw away after it fell apart. He used to lie in his bunk at night, listening to his parents argue while he rubbed the soft Wookiee leg against his cheek. He wondered if the items were still scattered around the ship, tucked into unmapped compartments long forgotten. He wouldn't be surprised if that was the case. The Falcon was full of secrets and a bloody history he could taste even when he was a child.

It was all meant to be his one day. But that was a dream for Ben Solo.

Now, as he reached out with his mind toward the ship targeting him, he found an achingly familiar presence at the helm. Beyond the distracting heat of Rey, he sensed another- ah, she wasn't alone on the ship.

Spotting the incoming attack, Chrywumppa Ren pulled back from his assault on the nearest cruiser and maneuvered into position alongside Kylo. The silent Teevan conveyed his intention through the Force- he was going to attack from beneath to draw fire while Kylo handled the ship he knew so well.

"Sazina, pull back," Kylo ordered. They'd need another, and she was closest. "Above, and wait for my command."

She sighed impatiently but ceased her attack and readied to slide into position. "Now?"

 _Yes, good,_ Snoke purred. _Do it._

"Not yet." Kylo swallowed. "It's-"

 _Kylo?_

Her voice.

He glanced around. He saw nothing, no repeat of their earlier vision. _Rey?_

His thumb danced over the controls.

 _Kylo, please. Stop this. Leave them. I- I want you to come with me._

He could feel the rapid beat of her heart, the way Rey licked her lips nervously as she pleaded with him. He could feel the throb in her throat as much as he could feel the one in his own, as she touched her bonding scar and reached out to him again.

 _It's not too late. It's never too late to come back._

"Master?" Sazina called irritably. Kylo could feel the weighty impatience of Chrywumppa. He was a quiet one but his power in the Force spoke volumes.

"Hold," he said, aware of how strangled he sounded.

 _Kylo Ren…fulfill your destiny. Do it. Unless you…don't want to_? Snoke's voice took on a sly tone, with a hint of a smile at the end that made his blood curdle.

"Into positions," Kylo said, shifting the lever. Sazina and Chrywumppa obeyed, flipping and rotating their TIE fighters speedily to close in on the Millennium Falcon. The moment they were in place, Kylo swooped in.

 _Perhaps you'd rather capture her alive and then do it. It's more satisfying that way_ , Snoke mused. _More…personal._

A muscle in his cheek twitched.

With the fighters closing in, the Falcon switched to evasive techniques, but the Knights of Ren were experts and merciless in clinging to their enemy. After a few minutes' desperate scrambling and sliding between the three fighters, the freighter was facing the long deadly arms of Kylo Ren's TIE Silencer, as their laser cannons powered up to fire on the Falcon.

Through the bond, he could feel Rey, her rage and her despair and most of all, her confusion, all distilled to one word.

 _Why?_ So many things. So many reasons.

Rey, with all her passion, her anger, and certainty, and hunger for everything in the galaxy. How the hell did anyone ever think she could be a Jedi? Kylo was breathless with the strength of her.

His finger hovered over the trigger.

On the Falcon, Rey sat up straight, her fingers digging into the control board. Her brow furrowed furiously.

 _I never had a choice, Rey._

She tilted her head.

 _He's been in my head since before I was born. Did you know that?_

 _I don't understand._

 _I do. Now I do._ In the Silencer, Kylo sat back, and with a shudder, slid his hand from the trigger.

 _Fire, Rey._

 _What?!_

 _Fire your cannons. And then go. You'll be free. That's the only way to break the bond. You understand?_

 _I'm not going to fire on you, dammit._ Her shock rang through the bond.

 _You have to, Rey. Otherwise you'll always be tied to me._

 _Did it ever occur to you to ask what I want, you stupid man?_

"Master? They're maneuvering again. If we don't fire now-" Sazina snapped over the comm.

"Hold. You have your orders."

 _GO_ , he screamed through the bond. _I can't stop this attack. Snoke had it planned for months. But you will live, and so will your fleet if they stop attempting to toy with the dreadnought. Dameron's crew is risking too much for little return. To hell with your Resistance, just GO._

 _I want you to come with me_ , she insisted. But he could feel the conviction fading already. She knew.

 _You know I can't. They would either shoot me on sight, or imprison me and then shoot me after a ten-minute trial._

There was no response. He sensed Rey's distraction- she was doing something- speaking to someone.

"Sir! The Resistance is retreating! The cruisers are jumping to hyperspace!"Keren called through the comm.

She listened, Kylo thought. That's who Rey was speaking to- the fleet. The idiots might actually survive the day. He wondered if his mother was among them. He hadn't sensed her but he wouldn't have blamed her for finding some way to cut him off in the Force.

 _Enough!_ A rage-filled rumble burst into Kylo's mind. The grating bass was so rusty with disuse, it took Kylo a few seconds to realize Chrywumppa was using actual words. _No more waiting. They die._

The Teevan knight attacked. Sazina instinctively dove in after her fellow warrior.

But Rey was ready, and so was her gunner, Kylo saw, with fire greeting the TIE fighters in a ferocious volley. The Falcon swooped, rolled and dodged the cannons, and nearly missing clipping the edge of Sazina's wing. As Kylo watched, he felt a great wrenching pain in his right forearm suddenly, and knew that Rey had been hurt somehow on her ship. _Shit._

But they were ready on the next turn, and the Falcon's guns blew the TIE fighter into two, the shining eye of the starfighter exploding into the silence of space.

And Chrywumppa Ren was no more.

Behind them, the last of the cruisers jumped into hyperspace and vanished. The Resistance's X-Wings sped along behind them and zipped into the ether, leaving behind the struggling dreadnought.

"Retreat NOW," Kylo roared.

* * *

"An unmitigated disaster," Snoke said. "We have lost a brother of the Seven. A dreadnought will be out of commission for four months with repairs, the rebels suffered minimal damage and yet…and yet…what a…fascinating day." Snoke tilted his head. "Wouldn't you agree?"

On his knees, Kylo looked up. He was too weary for the Supreme Leader's games. "If you found it so."

Snoke laughed. "After a certain amount of years, one has to take amusement where one can find it." He stood from his throne and approached the line of surviving knights, bent on their knees in supplication. He tapped on the heads of two.

"Ferassmo. Sazina. I have a task for you."

Kylo glanced to the side. He was the master of the Knights, he doled out their assignments, and he'd heard nothing of this.

"The rest of you are dismissed."

Keren, Dirrivon and Ejoimo filed out dutifully. Kylo frowned and hesitated.

"Supreme Leader, may I-"

"You may go, Kylo Ren." Snoke hobbled back to his throne. Ferassmo and Sazina knelt at his feet. "The task I have I mind is entirely suited to these knights. Yes, I think they'll do just fine." His teeth showed in a twisted grimace. "You're dismissed."

* * *

"Well, this isn't the homecoming I was expecting." General Organa smiled wryly.

"It's good to have you back, general," replied Admiral Statura. "Things have been unexpectedly busy."

"You think?"

"Just a bit." He laughed and greeted the general with a brief hug.

And on it went until everyone had a moment with the alpha heart of the Resistance.

Sitting back and cradling her right arm, Rey watched and sighed with relief. Their cause just didn't feel right without Leia Organa. After the chaos of the battle, her and her brother Luke had met them at the rendezvous point and they were all now headed to a new base- which was actually an old base. Some salt planet on the Outer Rim apparently had an outpost from the Rebellion days that would suit their needs just fine until they found a more long-term solution.

As for Rey, she was just grateful to have survived and come out of it in one piece. A fractured arm seemed like a small price to pay. A silly injury- when the Falcon rolled, she'd rolled right along with it and failed to catch herself, crushing her arm against the wall of the cockpit. It would heal soon enough, though it ached horribly now.

"Rey!" General Organa's eyes landed on her. "I meant to check in with you after your trip, but well- things changed with the mission and all. Oh, you'll have to excuse my antisocial brother. Too much hero worship in a big crowd- he snuck off to his quarters the second we boarded the cruiser." Leia leaned in and hugged her gently, making sure not to put pressure on Rey's right arm, still wrapped in bacta patches and a makeshift sling. The Resistance was making do with what they had- there had been a good amount of injuries in the evacuation.

"Doesn't surprise me at all about Luke," Rey said, returning the hug carefully. "It'll be nice to see him. He can stay on the Falcon if he prefers, if it's quieter. I have a lot of questions for him, actually."

"I'll bet."

"How's that?"

Leia took a step back; her shrewd eyes took Rey in, head to toe. "Something's changed."

"It's been quite a month." Rey looked down.

"Yes it has," Leia agreed. She patted Rey's shoulder gently. "We should talk."

"About the Resistance?"

Leia's eyes were warm. "I think you know."

"General…"

"Rey, at some point, when we're not in the middle of a battle, more people are going to notice your scent has changed. But more to the point…why do you smell like my son?"


End file.
